The eighth straight win against rival UC Davis was not to be for the Sacramento State men’s tennis team, as they fell 6-1 in Causeway Cup action at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club, Sunday.

The Hornets, who have battled injuries early on this year, could not rally back from defeat in doubles competition. The slow start plagued them in singles action for the remainder of the afternoon.

In doubles, junior Oliver Andersen and freshman Ayman Abdulwahab lost 6-5 (7-3) to UC Davis’ Brett Bacharach and Kyle Miller. After juniors, Tom Miller and Marek Marksoo fell in doubles match No. 1, sophomore Niranjan Ram and junior Roy Brandys’ match became irrelevant, due to the two Davis victories.

Singles action did not fare much better for the Hornets. After the rocky start, they were unable to get any momentum going.

Brandys showed well at No.1, starting off the match by winning the first set 6-4, only to fall 1-6 and 3-6 in the second and third set.

Ram also started off strong, going up 6-4 in the opening set of match No.3, but couldn’t muster the strong showing from Davis’ Bacharach, losing 4-6 and 5-6 in the last two sets.

A healthy Marksoo was one of the lone bright spots on the day in singles competition, as he broke the shutout with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Davis freshman Alec Adamson.

The Hornets may have suffered another injury scare when Tom Miller seemed to have injure his left knee during doubles play. Tom Miller has posted a 4-1 record this season in singles play.

Abdulwahab was another Hornet who looked poised to win early, only to lose in sets two and three. After winning the first set 6-4, he too fell, 2-6 and 4-6. This was the clinching match for the Aggies.

The Hornets will next take the court against Saint Mary’s on Saturday in Moraga,Calif.