ITHACA, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's tennis team opened the Liberty League Tournament by dropping a total of 12 games in defeating Union College 5-0 in the first round. The Engineers, the No. 33 team in the country and the No. 4 seed in the tournament, improves to 11-6 and advances to play No. 34 and No. 1 Skidmore College on Saturday in the semifinals (2:15pm). The Dutchmen conclude their season with a 7-9 record.

In the three doubles matches to begin the contest, RPI surrendered no more than five games in any one match. The No. 2 team of Abraham Yohannes and Igor Visnevskij gave the Engineers a 1-0 lead (8-1) with the No. 1 squad of Aiden Drover-Mattinen and Andy Zhu following with an 8-4 triumph. 

Rensselaer took a 3-0 lead behind the No. 3 team of Bryce Burnham and Max Safanov, who won 8-5.

Yohannes then won love-love at No. 3 singles before Drover-Mattinen clinched it with a 6-0, 6-2 win.

The Engineers and Thoroughbreds met once during the regular season with RPI winning 7-2 on April 8 in Troy. The winner of Saturday's match advances to Sunday's final (1pm) to play for an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.