WHITEWATER, Wisc. – Faced with the daunting task of traveling nearly 1,000 miles across the country to take on a nationally ranked opponent with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line, the TCNJ men's tennis team put up a valiant fight but ultimately fell short in a 5-0 loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater in the NJAC Championship Match on Saturday.

With the victory, the 39^th-ranked Warhawks (21-2) claimed the first-ever NCAA automatic qualifier from the NJAC. TCNJ (13-3) will now hope for an at-large bid to the national tournament.

The Lions rolled through the NJAC's East Division and the Warhawks did the same in the West to set up a heavyweight bout for all the marbles. Whitewater wrested control of the match with a sweep of doubles play, starting with an 8-4 victory by John Zakowski and Alex Gray over TCNJ's top duo of Justin Wain and Matthew Michibata in a matchup of regionally ranked tandems.

Niclas Goltz and Ryan Mitchell followed with an 8-4 defeat of Akul Telluri and Jacob Quijano at No. 3, and the Warhawks polished off the sweep with an 8-5 win from Cole Lindwall and Rory Calabria over Nikola Kilibarda and Nick Matkiwsky at No. 2.

Needing only two of the six singles matches to claim the crown, Whitewater quickly made it 4-0 as Zakowski, ranked eighth in the Central Region, surged to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Wain in a showdown of the East and West Division players of the year at No. 1. It was the first singles dual loss of the year for Wain, who came in ranked 23^rd in the Northeast.

The Lions proved their mettle from there, staving off elimination as Michibata (No. 2) and Derek Jordan (No. 6) each won the second set to send their matches into decisive third frames.

Matkiwsky won the first set, 6-3, against Gray at No. 5, but his Whitewater counterpart rallied to grab the second, 6-1, and eke out a 6-4 decision in a tight third set to seal the hosts' trophy.

It was a critical result for the Warhawks, because TCNJ was in a strong position on three of the four remaining courts.

Michibata had reeled off four consecutive games to take a 4-6, 6-1, 4-1 lead over Lindwall. At six, Jordan had overcome a 3-0 third-set deficit and was locked in a 2-6, 6-1, 3-3 stalemate with Brendan Pietila. Kilibarda, meanwhile, had just emerged victorious from a 7-6 (5) marathon first set with Goltz at No. 4.

Adrian Tsui was down 6-3, 4-2 to Calabria in the third singles flight before fighting back to take a 5-4 lead. Calabria had broken back and led 6-5 in the second set when the match ended.