MIDDLEBURY, VT. - The Messiah Mens tennis team season came to a close Friday May. 10 after a 5-0 loss to the Allegheny Gators in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gators got out to a fast start taking all three doubles courts to give them a significant advantage heading into singles action. Following losses on court six and two, the Falcons tournament run came to an end. 

How It Happened:
Doubles:
The courts went down in order for the Falcons, starting with Chase Wilson / Timothy Sheaffer on court one. The duo would come up short against Alleghenys ones losing 8-3. Taking place on court two was a match with two Falcon freshman Luke Risser / Elijah Noll. The team fought hard but couldn't pull out a win for the Falcons as they dropped court two 8-5. As the final match went down on court three Carl Anderson / Zhenya Martin the team was unable to give Messiah their first win of the day as the Gators captured a 8-4 victory. 

Singles:
Entering singles play the Falcons looked to pull off the upset, needing to take five of six courts to give Messiah their first NCAA tournament win in program history. However, the Gators had other plans. On court six Kyle Huang took on Stasolla Reid from Allegheny. Reid would capture the Gators fourth match point of the day with a two set 6-1, 6-2 win. Down 4-0, with all the courts in action, it came down to court two with Timothy Sheaffer looking to capture Messiahs first match point. However, David Rodriguez had other plans for the Gators as he closed out the day with a 6-2, 6-0 two set win to advance to the next round. 

All though the Falcons impressive season came to a close in the first round. Messiah captured its 10th conference title in program history, earning multiple All-Conference honors, including Rookie of the year and Coach of the year. Messiah will look to bounce back next season with aspirations of seeking another conference championship appearance.