NEW YORK – The Quinnipiac men’s tennis team fell to the No. 23 ranked Clemson Tigers by a score of 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Columbia University, marking the end of a program-best season for the Bobcats. 

In doubles play, the Bobcats got off to a slow start, losing the point. The sophomore pair of Finn Burridge Carlos Braun Simo fell to Tigers sophomore Noa Vukadin and senior Maxwell Smith.

Quinnipiac first-year Elias Hoxha and graduate student Alex Yang would fall to Clemson first-year Viktor Markov and redshirt senior Matt Pitts. 

QU graduate student Daniel Velek and first year James Lorenzetti’s match versus junior Romain Gales and graduate student Max Damm was closer, but the Tigers prevailed four sets to three.. 

In singles, the Bobcats didn’t win a single match. Burridge, Lorenzetti and first year Vishal Prakesh would fall in straight sets, securing Clemson a spot in the second round against the Columbia Lions on Saturday, May 3. 

The other matches showed a different story as Velek had a close battle against Vukadin, just missing clinching a set with two unlucky break points. Braun Simo would finish down one set to Clemson’s Gales and Hoxha. 

Despite the loss, head coach Brian Adinolfi still maintained a positive outlook on the team’s season.

“The energy and the emotion that they put into every single ball that they hit, every single practice every day,” said Adinolfi, “I told them that we really weren’t supposed to do this. We weren’t supposed to win two in a row last year and then this year, it’s a lot harder to do it as the number one seed, to run the table as the number one seed, it’s just unbelievable.”

With the Bobcats season coming to a close, it would mark the end of Velek’s career. The Czech Republic native finished his Quinnipiac career with a 14-3 record against MAAC opponents. Adinolfi offered high praise for the graduate student.

“Daniel Velek could be one of the best players that we’ve ever had here. I’m going to say he’s the best competitor I’ve ever coached and it’s going to be a huge loss because he can beat anybody.”

Velek is one of the three players that will graduate this year, alongside Yang and Yasha Laskin.

 The team will have eight players returning for the 2025-26 season and they will look to win three-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles.