DALLAS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Tennis needed a venue change and a pair of three-set wins, but the Eagles ground out marathon wins at the second and fourth singles spots to earn a 5-4 win at Misericordia in the final match of the 2018 season. Eastern (5-8, 2-4 MAC Freedom) won two doubles matches and three singles matches to claim a second league win.

Ryan Hamilton and Karl Finkbeiner cruised to an 8-4 win at the top doubles spot, but Connor Mooney and Matt Cradduck needed a tiebreaker to claim the second doubles win. The duo prevailed 7-3 in the tiebreak to claim the 9-8 win and the advantage heading to singles.

Hamilton won 6-3, 6-3 at first singles, but the Eagles trailed 4-3 with two matches on the courts when the rain came. Finkbeiner and Cradduck each had to finish their matches inside. Both Eastenr players won the opening sets but fell in the second set. Finkbeiner lost his second set 7-6 on a 7-5 tiebreaker.

Finkbeiner won 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 to tie the match.

"Karl played a great match today, " Head coach Mark Spangler said afterwards.  "His singles game has improved a lot this year.  He played a great third set and was really dialed in."

Cradduck served out his match with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 win to claim the match for the Eagles.

"Matt bounced back from a second set where he lost a little focus," Spangler said. "He served really well and fed off the momentum of his service game."