ORLANDO, Fla. – A gritty comeback bid fell just short for the No. 16 ranked Wesleyan men's tennis team as the Cardinals fell to No. 23 Kenyon, 6-3, on Wednesday afternoon from the USTA National Campus. The Cardinals (4-2) see their four-match winning streak come to an end while the Owls snap a two-match losing skid.
 
In a tight match throughout, all three doubles matches were decided by two games or less while two needed to be settled in a tiebreak. Kenyon won the first two matches and nearly took all three if not for Harry Collomb '26 and Chase Kasday '26 pulling out an 8-7 (7-3) win to grab some momentum heading into singles.
 
Singles play was no different, with five of the six matches going into a third set. Ben Mitchell '24 was first to finish, as the lone player to win in straight sets as he defeated Thomas Kallarakal 6-4, 6-4 at #2. Kenyon, however, went on to secure the win as the Owls claimed wins in #3, #4, #5, and #6 singles, all of which decided in three sets. JT Bilski '26 managed to pull out a thrilling win at #1, salvaging a point for Wesleyan in the team scoring. The freshman battled back from a first set tiebreak loss, winning the second set 7-5 before taking the third set tiebreak 10-4 against Rishil Kondapaneni.
 
Wesleyan continues play in Florida on Thursday morning with an 8:00 AM start against Stevens.