No. 10 men’s tennis falls short to No. 7 WashU in NCAA Sweet Sixteen

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (May 15, 2022) – The 2022 season for the Denison University men's tennis team came to a close on Sunday in the third round (Sweet Sixteen) of the NCAA Division III Tournament as No. 7 nationally-ranked Washington University in St. Louis defeated the No. 10-ranked Big Red, 5-2, from the Tao Tennis Center in St. Louis, Ohio.

Notable Results:
No. 10 Denison 2, No. 7 WashU 5
Doubles

Blake Eason and Marc-Lennart Harms fell 8-4 against Jared Phillips and Gaurav Singh at No. 3 doubles.
At No. 1 doubles, the Big Red tandem of Tim Cianciola and Jack Bulger lost for the first time all season (22-1), and it came in brutally close fashion with an 8-7 (7-4) tiebreaker loss to Abhi Ramireddy and Daniel Li.
Denison's lone win in doubles action then came from Colin Gramley and Andy Mackler by a score of 8-6 over Scott Yamamoto and Jeremy Ouyang in the No. 2 spot.

Singles

Ryan Patrick lost 6-3, 6-1 to Singh at No. 4 singles to make it 3-1 WashU.
Denison's only singles win saw Cianciola need to earn two tiebreak victories to take it as he earned a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) win at No. 1 singles over Ramireddy to make it 3-2.
Mackler battled back to win his second set at No. 5 singles before falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to Phillips.
Finally, Daniel Garcia also went to three sets before falling 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3 to James Saheen at No. 6 singles.

Record Book Watch:

Tim Cianciola extended his new Denison record for singles wins in a career to 65.

Team Records:

Denison ended its 2022 season with a final record of 23-4, which was a program record for wins in a single season, and also won its second straight North Coast Athletic Conference Championship in two seasons under the direction of Head Coach David Schilling. Denison received All-NCAC recognition from Tim Cianciola, Jack Bulger, Marc-Lennart Harms, Andy Mackler, Ryan Patrick Colin Gramley and Blake Eason while Cianciola was named the NCAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row and Cianciola and Bulger were the NCAC Doubles Team of the Year for the second year in a row as well. Additionally, Cianciola was selected to compete in the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Singles Championship in Orlando, Florida, on May 27-29, while he and Bulger will also compete together in the NCAA Doubles Championship.