The College of New Jersey Athletics

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, Mass. – The No. 35 TCNJ men's tennis team gave 17^th-ranked Trinity (Texas) a major scare in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before concluding their terrific campaign with a 4-1 loss at Manchester Athletic Club on Saturday.
 
TCNJ ended its season with a record of 16-6, its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, and its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2017. The Lions' 16 dual match victories since the 1989-90 squad finished with the same mark. 
 
The Lions showed right away they were up for the big stage, claiming an early lead with wins on the top two doubles courts.
 
Alberto Thomas and Nathan Chan handled regionally ranked Ethan Flores and Roshin Kamath, 6-2, at number two, which set up a decisive finish on the first court after the Tigers rolled at third doubles.
 
Harrison Maitland-Carter and Asa Wong came through, rallying from a 4-3 deficit with a pair of breaks to clinch the doubles point with a signature 6-4 victory over Jared Perry and Kishan Kersten, the 3^rd-ranked doubles team in all of Division III and NCAA doubles qualifiers.
 
The Tigers pulled in front with straight-set wins in the third and fourth singles flights, at which time a crucial second-set tiebreaker was taking place at number one between Thomas and the nationally ranked Kersten, an NCAA qualifier in singles as well. Thomas took Kersten to the brink and owned a set point at 6-5, but the Trinity standout managed to stave it off and close out the match a 6-2, 7-6 (6) winner.
 
Ethan Flores finished it off from there with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 win over Brett Schuster at number six.
 
Maitland-Carter nearly pulled off a second massive win, leading the nationally ranked Perry, 4-1, in the third set.
 
Aidan Twamley, meanwhile, had just finished off a second-set win and was headed to a decisive third set against Kamath at number five when the match ended.


 
NOTES

• Maitland-Carter finished his legendary career fifth in program history in combined wins (138), second in doubles wins (77), and eighth in singles wins (61)
• Thomas ended his TCNJ tenure eighth in combined wins (120) and took over sole possession of third on the doubles wins list with his 70^th career victory
• Schuster wound up just shy of the Century Club, pairing 49 singles wins – 17^th in school history – with 49 doubles wins
• Wong finished tied for 21^st with 54 career doubles wins
• The Lions' senior class, which also includes Curt Gruber and Olufela Fieulleteau, combined for 444 total victories over their four years together