ORLANDO, Fla. – The Fairfield University men's and women's tennis teams wrapped up their respective three-trips down to the USTA National Campus in Florida Thursday afternoon, as both sides fell to Marquette. Despite the losses each side returns to the Nutmeg State with at least one victory from the trip.

"Tough to lose today but we battled hard," said Head Coach Jeff Bricker. "We learned a lot about what our teams are made of for the conference stretch run. We are ready for April."

The Stags opened the day with a 6-2 win in the topflight of doubles' action from Jonathan Olive-Blanco and Tolunay Sumer, which was followed up by a second win in the No. 2 duel from Sam Hodges and Keean Shah, 6-4 to give Fairfield the doubles point for the round. In singles play Sumer completed a sweep of the day for himself in the No. 2 flights as he took a straight set victory 7-6, 6-1 at which point the match would be level at 2-2. Griffin Schlesinger nabbed the final win of the day for his side at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-3.

The women's squad battled hard despite a 7-0 setback to the Golden Eagles, another tough opponent for the Stags in a rigorous week that saw the squad play on four consecutive days from Monday-Thursday due to the delay in their prior match with South Dakota.

"We ran into a good opponent today and we kind of dragged after four straight days of competition," said Coach Bricker. "Credit to the women, they fought to the end! This was a great trip for us and we are ready for the conference season to start."

Both squads now return back to the Northeast with the men the first to return to action when they host their home outdoor opener at the WAC Tennis Courts this Saturday at 12:00 p.m. against Stonehill. The women have a week to prepare for their debut on campus this spring, hosting Providence on Thursday, Mar. 23 at 3:00 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live across all six courts via Playsight.