MADISON, N.J. – Matthew Michibata and Harrison Maitland-Carter came within a whisker of reaching the finals of championship doubles as the TCNJ men's tennis team wrapped up its weekend at the ITA Northeast Regional.

Michibata and Maitland-Carter conceded an 8-6 thriller to Hobart's Sean Pesin and Jett Wright in the semifinals, falling narrowly short of booking a spot at the ITA Cup later this month.

The Lions' duo won two matches on Friday and added another victory on Saturday morning, downing Vassar's Fernando Bauermeister and Nolan Kubiak, 8-3, to secure their spot in the semifinals.

Michibata had a busy day even before his multiple doubles matches. The veteran standout rallied for a 2-6, 6-1, 10-5 victory against Rochester's Krish Vennam to reach the singles quarterfinals. He was joined there by rookie teammate Ronaldo Jacome, who pulled off a 6-2, 5-7, 10-2 defeat of RPI's Igor Visnevskij in early-morning action.  

Both Lions were eliminated in the quarterfinals, with Jacome falling in straight sets to fourth-seeded Connor Griff of Hamilton and Michibata succumbing to a straight-set defeat against New Jersey City's Nico Teynie.

With five victories over the weekend, Michibata stands just three shy of 100 for his career.

Alberto Thomas and Brett Schuster polished off a 6-0 weekend by claiming the B doubles title. In the finals, they defeated a pairing from Hamilton that had gotten past TCNJ teammates Nick Matkiwsky and Rahul Panoli in the semifinals.

The Lions showed off their stable of young talent over the course of the regional tournament, with Jacome reaching the singles quarterfinals and the second round of doubles in addition to Maitland-Carter's run with Michibata in the championship doubles draw and Thomas and Schuster's unblemished romp through the B draw.