GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Host Cornerstone handed the Goshen College men's tennis team its third-straight team loss, defeating the Maple Leafs 5-4 in Michigan Tuesday night.

The tandem of Thiago Amaral and Ryan Wengerd put up a solid 8-3 win in the No. 3 doubles match, but Goshen dropped the other two.  At No. 1, Vanathkumar Palanisamy made his debut, filling in for an injured Balazs Pirot.  With teammate Csaba Laszlo, the Leafs came back from 0-3 down to take a 6-5 lead, but could not hold on as the Golden Eagles took a 2-1 lead after doubles.

"In spite of being down after doubles, I still felt like we had a good chance of taking at least four of the singles matches for a team win, but it didn't work out that way," head coach Stan King admitted.  

A top the singles lineup, Laszlo and Pirot were able to win in straight sets and at the time, knot the match up at 3-3 after Cornerstone also won at No. 6 singles.

"It was good to see Balazs play as well as he did with a taped and braced ankle and it was good to see Csaba win his last four games to win his match after being down 4-2 in the second set," King added.

The Golden Eagles won at No. 5 singles, but Palanisamy tied the match up again with his first win as a Maple Leaf, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.  That left just the No. 3 singles match on the courts with the team match in the balance.

"Jon Kaasa had a marathon match at No. 3 singles," King explained.  "He lost a heartbreaker first set by a 7-6 (11-9) score and then found himself down 0-3 in the second set before winning the next four games.  However, the next two games were tough for Jon as he lost eight of the next nine points to do down 4-5."

"This sort of match reminds us again of the huge impact just a few points won at the right time can make all the difference between a loss and a win," he continued.

The Maple Leafs (2-4) will be back in action when they head to Crossroads League foe Marian University on Thursday.

COMPLETE RESULTS
Cornerstone 5, Goshen 4

DOUBLES
1.    Yi/Hunt (C) def Laszlo/Palanisamy 8-6
2.    Reed/Andrew (C) def Kaasa/Ganesan 8-4
3.    Amaral/ Ryan Wenger (G) def Chris Selva/Son 8-3

SINGLES:
1.    Csaba Laszlo (G) def Elijah Yi 6-2, 6-4
2.    Balazs Pirot (G) def Austin Hunt 6-4, 6-2
3.    Chris Reed (C) def Jon Kaasa 7-6(9), 7-5
4.    Vasanth Palanisamy (G) def John Andrew 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
5.    Andrew Son (C) def Krishnan Ganesan 6-3, 7-5
6.    Alex Tarnow (C) def Thiago Amaral 6-1, 6-3

EXHIBITION:
Seth Krabill (G) def Brad Miedena (8-6)