(Posted March 28, 2009)

MADISON, N.J. -- The Juniata College men's tennis struggled to close out its opportunities for wins and fell to Drew University, 8-1, in men's tennis action Saturday afternoon.

Junior Jarrad Silver (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) posted the lone Juniata victory of the day with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Drew's Alex Belfiore at no. 2 singles. Belfiore was a Second team All-Landmark Conference performer last season.

"Jarrad had a real growth spurt today in terms of his match maturity," said Juniata head coach Beth Bleil. "He had a close match today against a really tough opponent, and he stayed in it and fought for the win."

Senior Aaron Rhodes (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area) came the closest to finding Juniata's second point of the day, with his match at no. 5 singles. Rhodes captured the first set, 7-6, before dropping set two and the tiebreaker, 6-4 and 10-3.

Senior Ryan Navarro (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) nearly forced the tiebreaker in his match at no. 3 singles, falling 6-4, 7-5 to Drew's Matt Brisotti.

Juniata evened its season record at 5-5, and fell to 0-2 in Landmark Conference play. Drew improved to 4-3 overall, and remained undefeated in the conference at 2-0.

The Eagle men's tennis team will return to action on Tuesday, March 31, when it hosts Penn State-Harrisburg at 3:30 p.m.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.