SAINT LEO, Fla. – After a successful streak of two wins in three matches; the Saint Leo men’s tennis team found the going tough against Sunshine State Conference foe Eckerd College as they dropped an 8-1 decision to the Tritons at the SLU Tennis Center on Thursday afternoon.

Saint Leo (1-8, 0-2 SSC) only managed to pick up a win at No. 2 doubles where the tandem of Richard Maclachlan and Jose Morales downed Eckerd’s combo of Hisa Sato and Jon Bonner 8-5.  Aside from that result, the Lions dropped the other games to the visitors from St. Petersburg.

Maclachlan, the South African who has been playing rather well for Saint Leo over the last few matches, took a set off of his opponent Adam Hopkins at No. 3 singles, claiming set one 6-2.  Hopkins rebounded to win set two 6-3 and finished the victory with a 6-1 victory to round out the EC sweep of singles.

Other than Maclachlan, freshman Tim Balz-Hermann came the closest to pulling out a positive result, dropping twin 6-4 decisions to Erik Thunberg in the No. 4 slot.

The Lions will turn their attention to Lake Superior State University, who will come to the SLU Tennis Center on Friday afternoon as Saint Leo is in the midst of a 10-match home stand.  The Lions and the Lakers will get things started at 3:00 p.m.