The University of Richmond men’s tennis team ended its season on May 1 after a loss to No. 13 South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Carolina Tennis Center. This marked Richmond’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2006.
The Spiders finished their campaign with a record of 17-9, following their Atlantic 10 Championship win as the No. 5 seed, which secured them an automatic bid to the tournament.
During Friday’s match, South Carolina gained early momentum by winning doubles matches on courts two and three, taking a quick lead before play was stopped on court one. In singles competition, Atakan Karahan defeated Dylan Atkinson and No. 14 Lucas da Silva beat Davis Wiley in straight sets for South Carolina. The Gamecocks clinched victory when No. 73 Sean Daryabeigi won against Charlie Burdell, resulting in a final score of 4-0.
Three other singles matches were left unfinished when play concluded: Paxton Pritchard was tied with Max Stenzer; Otto Sewell had taken his opening set against Charlie Swaine; and Cole Brashear remained competitive on court six.
Richmond’s season included several highlights such as becoming the first No. 5 seed since 2012 to win the Atlantic 10 title and earning its first victory over top-seeded VCU since 1990 during semifinals. The championship match against Dayton was decided by Cole Brashear’s performance, giving Richmond its first conference crown since their last NCAA appearance.
