Men's Tennis | 4/8/2017 8:05:00 PM

ARLINGTON, Texas — Closing out Heartland Conference play as the regular season nears its end, the Newman men's and women's tennis teams fell in tough matches to St. Edward's Saturday.

The No. 42 Jet men (8-9, 2-2 Heartland) were locked into a tight match the entire way against the No. 30 Hilltoppers (14-10, 3-1 Heartland), with the 5-4 match coming down to the final court. For the second day in a row, Eduardo Santos and Blake Crawford at No. 2 and Diego Rojo and Enrique Coiras at No. 3 gave Newman a 2-1 lead after doubles play.

Rojo picked up a quick straight-set win at No. 4 singles to make it 3-1, and Felipe Batistella gutted out a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 2 to tie it up with just top singles to play. Eduardo Santos took the first set, but fell in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 match.

Despite the loss, the Jets locked up a spot in the Heartland Conference postseason, and will face St. Edward's in the 2-3 matchup in Dallas later this month.

The Jet women (4-15, 0-4 Heartland) played the No. 42 Hilltoppers (11-9, 3-0 Heartland) tight in most of the matches, but suffered an 8-1 loss. Mariana Guvaria locked up the only point for the Jets with an impressive 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 10-7 victory at No. 6 singles. At No. 3, Niamh Packer traded 6-2 wins in the first two sets before falling by the closest possible margin, 11-9 in a third-set tiebreak.

Newman wraps up its regular season with a pair of nonconference matches on the road, beginning at Emporia State Tuesday.