PURCHASE, N.Y. – After celebrating the careers of seniors Julian Szuper, Ben Joory and William Isidro, the Purchase men's tennis team battled to a 5-4 triumph over the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in the final match of the regular season on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Purchase secured the No. 4 seed in the Skyline Conference postseason as it capped the regular season record at 9-5 overall and 4-3 in the league. USMMA dropped to 5-7, 3-4 and placed fifth overall in the league.

The two teams will go head-to-head again on Tuesday when the Panthers play host to the Mariners for the first round of the postseason tournament.

Purchase held a slight advantage, 2-1, following its wins at first and second doubles. Szuper and Eli Palagatshev (FR/Yonkers, NY) downed RJ Novak and Connor McQuade, 8-1, at the top spot, while Joory and Yuta Kawamura (FR/Greenwich, CT) battled Tom Chairs and Demme Kraut in an 8-7 (7-4) tiebreaker win. 

Merchant Marine's Gabby Eitkis and Brandon Bomboy collected the teams lone doubles tally: an 8-5 decision at the No. 3 spot. 

Szuper kept things rolling for the home team with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Chairs at No. 1 singles, but the visitors fired back with tallies at the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. 

With the match tied 3-3, pressure mounted for both sides of the net of second, third and sixth singles, but it would be the Panthers on the winning side in the end. Palagatshev recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 triumph at No. 2, before Kawamura erupted with the deciding point to clinch the match. The standout rookie fired in a 7-5, 7-5 victory at the No. 3 position. 

Bombay rounded out the scoring for the afternoon with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win at sixth singles.  

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