The Lancaster Bible College men's tennis team saw its record-breaking season come to an end on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships, as the Chargers lost to Drew University, 5-0 in Rocky Mount, N.C.
 
Lancaster Bible finishes the season with an 11-2 overall record, while the Rangers will move onto the second round of the championships with an 11-0 overall record. Drew will play host North Carolina Wesleyan in the next round of the tournament.
 
Doubles: A big part of Lancaster Bible's success this season was its ability to win two to three doubles matches per match and take an early lead. Drew quickly crushed that plan on Thursday, as the Rangers won each of the three doubles matches in dominating fashion. Lancaster Bible's top team of Devon Clemmer and Tyler Norris lost 8-0 to Bryce Kennedy and John Dickey, while the No. 2 team of Malachi Bomgardner and AJ Kwiatkowski suffered the same fate with an 8-0 loss to Geoffrey Diehl and Bret Schuler. The No. 3 team of Micah Weaver and Keven Vallette dropped their first doubles match of the season with an 8-0 defeat as well.
 
Singles: NCAA rules state that once the overall match has been decided with a team earning five points, the rest of the matches stop and go unfinished. On Thursday, only No. 1 singles player Devon Clemmer and No. 3 singles player Micah Weaver played full matches, as Clemmer lost his match, 6-0, 6-0 to Diehl, and Weaver fell, 6-2, 6-1 to Santo Carroccia.
 
The rest of the matches were taking place when Drew clinched the match, as Norris was trailing, 4-3 at No. 2 doubles, and Bomgardner lost the first set, 6-2, but was winning, 1-0 early in the second frame of his No. 4 singles match. Vallette trailed, 6-3, 4-0 at No. 5 singles when the match ended, while Kwiatkowski was trailing, 6-0, 4-0 at No. 6 singles.
 
The Coach Says: "I was super proud of our men today," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Rod Baughman said. "Drew played at a pace that was just a bit quicker than we have seen this season, especially in doubles."
 
On the team's season: "It was a great season with a great group of men," Baughman said. "We were fortunate to accomplish some milestones on the court this year, but as it has been our mantra all year long – it was a blessing to play a sport we love, with people we love, for a God that loves us the same regardless of the results."
 
News & Notes: Thursday was the first-ever meeting between the two teams…Lancaster Bible's 11 wins this season are a program record...Because his singles match did not finish, Kwiatkowski finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record in singles play…The Chargers finished 51-19 in singles play this season, and 28-10 in doubles action…Vallette ends his terrific career with 25 singles wins, which is tied with Tedd Holbrook ('16) for the most in program history…Vallette's 28 career doubles wins are the most in program history, as are his 53 combined wins.