Box Score ROME, Ga. - The Western Connecticut State University men's tennis team, headed by a group of four well-respected seniors, bowed out of the 2021 NCAA Division III national championships following tonight's 5-0 loss to John Carrol University at the Rome Tennis Center in northwest Georgia.

WestConn's campaign concludes at 6-2 and a Little East Conference championship in hand.  The Blue Streak, now 8-0 and winners of the Ohio Athletic Conference, will take on defending (2019) national champion Emory University at 3 pm on Saturday in the second round.

Despite falling behind, 3-0 after doubles action concluded, WestConn battled to the end in singles play.

Hogan and Mitchell Kindred (New Fairfield, Conn.) fell at third pairs, 8-3 to Adi Jha and Parker Holyn to put WestConn in an early 0-2 deficit.

Other doubles action saw seniors Aaron Campos (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Matthew Carino (Sandy Hook, Conn.) fell to Beebe and Logan Longowsky, 8-2 in top-flight buddies.

Winding out the crowded courts were Jay Kilcourse (New Fairfield, Conn.) and Sabastian Frisch (Redding, Conn.) in second doubles with an 8-1 loss to Doug Moore and Andrew Triner.

After a short five-minute break WestConn and JCU scattered to their respective battle zones for singles play.

Kilcourse dropped a straight-set match to Jha, 6-0, 6-0 to bring WestConn to a 4-0 disadvantage.

As the sun made its way to the horizon, Hogan tried to hold off Beebe at second solos, but fell, 6-0, 6-1 to conclude the match.

Other matches that went unfinished due to the tournament format of first-to-five wins, were Campos at top-flight singles (3-6, 1-0 against Longgovsky), Carino at threes (2-6, 0-4 versus Grant Samowski), Frisch (0-6, 0-3 against Triner at 4-S) and Kindred (2-6, 0-0 against Alvero Rosabel) on the last court of the prime-tier pad.

Joining Campos, Carino and Hogan at their final match was Myckland Cothias (Danbury, Conn.).  The program will surely miss the leadership of its senior class and appreciate the dedication and effort given by its upperclassmen over the past half decade.

"I cannot say enough about how proud I am of this team. We ran into a very tough opponent today, and we knew it wasn't going to be easy," stated WestConn head coach Shawn Stillman.  "However, the experience of earning a berth into the NCAA tournament was a goal of ours from the first day of practice. In fact, it carried over from the previous season before COVID shut everything down. These guys have gone through so much adversity this season related to COVID restrictions, but they stuck together and overcame. They deserve so much credit. We are also grateful to our University for supporting us to compete this season.

WestConn's only other trip to the NCAA championships came in 2010.