The Dominican University men's tennis team opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Saturday, dropping matches to the MSOE Raiders, 9-0, and Edgewood College Eagles, 5-4, to fall to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in the NACC.
 
Freshman Brandon Pineda tried to steal a point in the loss to the Raiders, falling to MSOE's Alec Dam, 7-6 (7-0), 6-0 before managing to knock off Edgewood's Jackson Venske, 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 to claim one of three points in singles play for Dominican.
 
"A tough day to open up conference," said Troy Tonsil, the Stars' head coach. "I am proud of the effort, but we didn't execute well enough to earn a win. We rallied well and played out some great points. However, we didn't consistently capitalize on the opportunities we had. Brandon grinded out great efforts in both of his singles matches, leading to his first match win in conference.  He showed great composure and skill today."
 
The Stars will be back in action next Saturday, taking on the Marian University Sabres and Lakeland University Muskies in conference play.