Colorado College played a solid match against Whittier College on Saturday, but had little to show for their efforts after dropping an 8-1 decision against the Poets.

Nate Burt and Lionel Zen-Ruffinen earned a hard-fought 8-6 victory at No. 1 doubles, but that would prove to be the only point CC would earn.

The doubles contests exemplified how competitive the overall match was, with all three sets being decided by just one break. Whittier claimed a pair of 8-6 triumphs at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to take a 2-1 lead into the singles matches, where the Tigers failed to win a point for the first time against a Division III opponent.

Burt dropped a 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 decision at No. 1 singles, while Evan Jonker came out on the short end of a 6-4, 6-3 score at No. 2.

“Evan played a great match at No. 2 singles, coming up short in only a few key points,” head coach Naren Clark said. “Nate continued his great play forcing another third set at No. 1 singles, only to drop a super tiebreak.”

The Tigers needed to win four of six singles matches to win the match, and that task became even more difficult when Zen-Ruffinen was scratched from his individual match with a pulled muscle.

“Zen-Ruffinen was out of the singles line-up due to a muscle strain which shifted everyone below the No. 2 spot up one position in the lineup,” Clark said. “Overall I was pleased with the level of play and effort displayed by our team. The 8-1 score does not do the match justice in terms of how competitive all of the matches were.

Colorado College returns to action on Monday with matches against Sewanee and La Sierra University.