ORANGE, Calif. – Cal Lutheran men's tennis opened conference play on Saturday morning with a tough 7-0 loss at Chapman.

The Kingsmen (3-6, 0-1 SCIAC) were unable to gain early traction after dropping the doubles point, as the Panthers secured wins across all three courts to take control of the match.

Despite the final score, CLU showed signs of fight in singles play, highlighted by competitive efforts from Toki Adachi and Maxence Faniel.

Adachi delivered a strong performance at No. 2, forcing a first set tiebreak before ultimately falling 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Faniel pushed his opponent to the brink at No. 4, bouncing back in the second set to force a deciding third, where he narrowly came up short with a 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 result.

Cal Lutheran now has its sights set on another big test ahead, traveling to take on No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m.