Altamonte Springs, Fla. – The most successful season in the history of the Le Moyne College men's tennis program came to a close on Wednesday morning as the 29th-ranked and ninth-seeded Dolphins suffered a 4-1 loss to 14th-ranked and eighth-seeded Azusa Pacific University in the NCAA Championships Round of 16 at Sanlando Park.

The Dolphins close out he season with a 22-2 record after advancing to the Round of 16 for the first time in the program's history.

Azusa Pacific took a 1-0 lead in the match by claiming the point in the doubles competition. The Cougars claimed the first win at the third spot as Sam Sippel and Ethan Smith posted a 6-2 victory over fifth years Jared Howard (Malmesbury, South Africa/Homeschooled/ASA College) and James Howard (Malmesbury, South Africa/Homeschooled/ASA College). The Le Moyne duo of graduate student Manuel Righi (Bologna, Italy/IPC Manfredi - ITC Tanari/Concordia (N.Y.)/Universita di Bologna) and freshman Peter Hatton (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt/Club Med Academics/Army West Point) evened the competition at one apiece with a 6-3 win over Elias Emilio Walter and Miha Velicki. The 20th-ranked doubles team in Division II, Ryan Nuno and Leyton Bohren, outlasted graduate student Tom Jarry (Paris, France/CNED Toulouse/Emmanuel) and junior Ethan Miller (Swindon, England/Cirencetser Kingshill School) at the first position, 7-6 (7-1) after Jarry and Miller rallied from down 5-4 and 6-5 to force the tiebreaker.

The Cougars recorded wins at the top three spots of the singles competition to close out the victory. At the first position, Nuno, the eighth-ranked singles player in Division II, recorded a 6-2, 6-3 win over Jarry. Sippel, the 43rd-ranked singles player, grinded out a 7-5, 6-3 victory at the second spot to hand Righi his first loss as a Dolphin after 18 straight wins. Miller kept the Dolphins alive in the match with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 win at the sixth spot over Cole Rassner. Bohren closed out the match by claiming the point at the third position, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, over Jared Howard. Hatton and junior Kacper Piekarek (Wroclaw, Poland/Autorskrie Licea Artystyczne Akademickie/Missouri-Kansas City) were each in a third set at the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, when the match ended.