Fairfax, Va. – The UMBC men's tennis team won a hard-fought doubles point, then dominated host George Mason in singles and defeated the Patriots, 6-1 to improve to 8-4 on the season.

Juniors Jaan Kononov (Talinn, Estonia), Melker Svard (Gothenburg, Sweden) and Eliott Loubatie (Paris, France) were all double-winners for the Retrievers.

Kononov continued his sterling play, as he teamed with Svard to win the deciding match in doubles, edging Tanner Baine and Daniel Gutierrez, 8-6, at the No. 2 flight.

Junior Alex Drean (Bayonne, France) opened singles play by winning his team-leading eighth singles match of the campaign in a routine 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Conor Moran at the No. 4 position. Then, Kononov gave UMBC a 3-0 advantage, improving to 6-3 on the spring at the No. 1 flight with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jimmy Lange.

Senior Daniel Gray (Bowie, Md./The Bullis School) clinched the match for the Retrievers in another straight-set decision, as he prevailed, 6-3, 6-1, over Daniel Gutierrez.

UMBC will head back to the state of Virginia for its next match, as they face Richmond on Sunday, March 29.

UMBC 6, George Mason 1

Doubles

No 1. Jimmy Lange/Joe Hill, GM def. Daniel Gray/Alex Drean, UMBC, 8-6

No. 2 Melker Svard/Jaan Kononov def. Tanner Baine/Daniel Gutierrez, GM, 8-6

No. 3 Justin Carter/Eliott Loubatie, UMBC, def. Aaron Capitel/Nick Barker, 8-3

Singles

No. 1 Kononov def. Lange, 6-3, 6-1

No. 2 Capitel def. Carter, 4-6, 7-6, (12-10)

No. 3 Svard def. Hill, 6-4, 7-5

No.4 Drean def. Conor Moran, 6-1, 6-1

No. 5 Loubatie def. Baine, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7)

No. 6 Gray def. Gutierrez, 6-3, 6-1

Order of Finish: Doubles 3,1,2*; Singles 4,1,6*,3,2,5

*clinching matches

Records: UMBC (8-4) GMU (5-8)