SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University men's tennis team took its second loss of the 2016 season on Saturday afternoon, falling 6-3 to Franklin & Marshall College at the SU Tennis Courts.

The Sea Gulls dropped two points in doubles play to the Diplomats, picking up the win at No. 1 from seniors Eric Spangler and Shanon Gunther with an 8-6 victory. After taking a 5-2 lead, the duo held on after the Franklin & Marshall pair of Doug Kaplan and Jack Rothman came back to make it 5-4. The Sea Gulls stayed on serve and broke serve to end the match.

At the No. 2 spot junior Grant Hudson and sophomore Kelson Weber fell 8-6, and at No. 3 junior Michael Popielski and Andrew Rainger battled but fell, 9-7.

The Diplomats would seal the team victory in the first three singles matches to conclude, with straight-set wins at the fourth, fifth and sixth slots in the lineup. Weber fell at No. 4 singles 6-3, 6-0, Rainger dropped a 6-0, 6-1 decision and Popielski fell 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 as Franklin & Marshall clinched the win.

Hudson and Gunther both had tough matches on Saturday, leading to three sets to determine their contests. Gunther, at the No. 2 position, lost his first set in a tiebreak 7-6 (7-4), but he was able to ultimately take the long match with a second-set win of 7-5 and grabbing the third-set super-tiebreaker 10-8. Hudson, at the No. 3 spot, won his first set 6-1, but dropped the next two sets 6-1, 6-3 to Rothman.

At the No. 1 singles spot, Spangler took away a 6-2, 6-3 win for the Sea Gulls. In the opening set Spangler jumped out to a 3-0 lead. In the second set, after being on serve to 4-3, Spangler ran away the match.

The Sea Gulls will return to action on Friday, March 11 hosting Stevenson University, with the match starting at 3 p.m.