TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn men's tennis team lost a hard-fought battle to Harding on Friday afternoon, 5-2. The Ichabods are now 6-3 on the season while the Bison move to 9-3.

Harding started off the match strong by sweeping the doubles competition to take an early 1-0 lead. At court No. 1, Alejandro Valarezo Plaza and Paul Haase narrowly lost in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3).

The singles competition was highly contested by both teams as four of the six matches were stretched to all three sets, but the Bison claimed the first four victories in the lineup to seal the dual match win. The Ichabods never gave up and picked up two wins at the No. 5 and 6 position. After dropping the first set tiebreaker, Marc Roura Casi grinded out a three set 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 12-10 victory at the fifth slot. Chase Brill added a second point for Washburn with his three set rally of 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.

The Ichabods will travel to Maryville, Mo., next week to face the Northwest Missouri Bearcats on Tuesday, March 19. First serve is scheduled at 2 p.m.

Singles competition
1. Sendra,Alejandro (HU) def. Valarezo Plaza,Alejandro (WU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. Bellan,Arthur (HU) def. Haase,Paul (WU) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
3. Tirado,Luis (HU) def. Dicu,Raul-Alin (WU) 7-5, 7-5
4. Salvan,Morgan (HU) def. Eidenmueller,Bradley (WU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-6)
5. Roura Casi,Marc (WU) def. Reeves,Will (HU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 12-10
6. Brill,Chase (WU) def. Pierola,Diego (HU) 3-6, 6-3, 10-8

Doubles competition
1. Sendra,Alejandro/Salvan,Morgan (HU) def. Valarezo Plaza,Alejandro/Haase,Paul (WU) 7-6 (7-3)
2. Bellan,Arthur/Pierola,Diego (HU) def. Dicu,Raul-Alin/Roura Casi,Marc (WU) 6-2
3. Reeves,Will/Tirado,Luis (HU) def. Eidenmueller,Bradley/Brill,Chase (WU) 6-0

Match notes
Washburn 6-3
Harding 9-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,3,2,4,6,5)