ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The UT Dallas men's tennis team put up a tough fight against #35 Eckerd before falling 5-2 at Bullard Courts Tuesday.

The Comets (2-7) opened the match by taking the doubles point with a pair of victories. Travis Rafferty and Benjamin Dubois defeated Batu Ataseven and Mario Kirkov 6-4 at the top spot. Giritharan D and Eddy Shteyn improved to 5-3 on the year as they took down Adrian Gheorge and Marshall Hulett 6-3 at number two.

The Tritons (8-4) won the match with five of the six singles victories. Dubois earned UTD a point at number three, defeating Eric Asakura 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3). Dubois is now 6-3 in singles this season.

Snehin Yerragudi battled Kirkov to a third-set tiebreaker, falling 0-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) at number two. Matheus de Freitas Zanellato fell to Gheorge 6-4, 6-4 at number five.

Eckerd was the fourth consecutive ranked NCAA Division II opponent the Comets have played.

UTD will be off until Friday, March 28 when play LeTourneau in Longview, Texas at 2 p.m.