Worcester, Mass. – Host Clark University pushed 16-time reigning New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference champion MIT to the brink, but in the end the Cougars couldn't pull off the historic upset, falling to the Engineers, 5-4 in men's tennis action on Saturday afternoon.

MIT, who had their 119-match win streak against league foes snapped earlier this season against Babson, improves to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in conference matches. The Cougars, meanwhile, fall to 4-9 but can clinch a playoff berth on Sunday with a win over Emerson College on Sunday afternoon.

In doubles action, Jeffrey Sperling (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Kenny Gea (Irvine, Calif.) opened up the match with an 8-4 win over Dan Stein (Newton, Mass.) and Lenny Siegel (Boca Raton, Fla.) at No. 2.

Clark got on the board at No. 3 where classmates Scott Cabell (West Hartford, Conn.) and Zach Goodstein (Columbus, Ohio) teamed up to take down Avi Walden (Cortland Manor, N.Y.) and Moseley Andrews (Ross, Calif.), 8-5.

MIT was able to secure their second doubles point when Kevin Wang (Havertown, Pa.) and Dennis Garcia (Corpus Christi, Texas) edged out Fernando Pinoargote (Guayaquil, Ecuador) and Spencer Pinkney (Falmouth, Mass.), 9-7 at No. 1.

Sperling got singles play going with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Pinoargote at No. 2 and then Garcia followed suite with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Pinkney at No. 1.

Walden clinched the match for the Engineers with his 6-3, 6-2 decision over Joel Simonson (Waterford, Conn.) at No. 5.

Clark took the win at No. 4 where Josh Burger (Fairfield, Conn.) topped Kristopher Bronner (Brookline, Mass.), 6-0, 7-6 (2) and at No. 6 as Siegel got past Justin Cheung (Sydney, Australia), 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Goodstein collected the final match for the Scarlet and White at No. 3 where he won a duel with Gea, 6-4, 7-6 (7).

Sunday's match with the Lions for Clark starts at 11:00 a.m., while MIT's next opponent is also Emerson but their meeting isn't until Wednesday.