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MT0524-FINAL
4
Winner Flagler FLG (23-4)
3
Barry BARRY-M (25-0)
Winner
Flagler FLG
(23-4)
4
Final
3
Barry BARRY-M
(25-0)

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | | Dennis Jezek, Jr.

Men's Tennis Falls In National Championship Match

SURPRISE, Ariz. --  The second-ranked and top-seeded Barry Buccaneers fell to the fourth-ranked and sixth-seeded Flagler Saints 4-3 in the championship match at the 2026 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Tournament at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex on Sunday.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: No. 4 Flagler 4, No. 2 Barry 3
Records: Barry (25-1), Flagler (24-4)
Series: Buccaneers lead the series 23-2

SUMMARY:

Doubles

  1. #30 Ilian Borlee / Simon Malis (FLG) def #19 Simone Cavalleri / Riccardo Trione (BARRY) 6-3
  2. Adam Lynch / Thomas Machado (BARRY) vs Filip Kana . Aly El Rafie (FLG) 3-5 unf
  3. Aniss Rafiq / Oliver Hradilek (FLG) def Antonin Chapuis / Yan Kodjoed (BARRY) 6-4 

Singles

  1. #17 Simon Malis (FLG) def #16 Riccardo Trione (BARRY) 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-3
  2. #35 Aniss Rafiq (FLG) def #2 Yan Kodjoed (BARRY) 6-2, 6-1
  3. #33 Adam Lynch (BARRY) def #14 Ilian Borlee (FLG) 7-6(3), 6-1
  4. #73 Aly El Rafie (FLG) def Thomas Machado (BARRY) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(3)
  5. Elie Azoulay (BARRY) def Filip Kana (FLG) 2-6, 6-1, 
  6. Cooper Dillon (BARRY) def Oliver Hradilek (FLG) 6-2, 7-5

HOW IT HAPPENED:

  • The Saints came out quickly in doubles, taking the first and third flights to win the doubles point. It was the first time that the Bucs had lost the doubles point in the tournament.
  • Rafig dispatched Kodjoed in straight sets to put Flagler up 2-0.
  • But the Bucs rallied. Lynch won a tiebreaker in the first set against Borlee and closed him out 6-1 in the second set to put Barry on the board.
  • Dillon evened the match at number six. Down 3-0 in the second set, he came back and won 7-5.
  • The other three matches all went to third sets.
  • At number five, Azoulay rebounded from a tough 6-2 loss in the first set to rolling over Kana 6-1, 6-0 to put the Bucs up 3-2.
  • But at number one, Trione dropped the second set 6-2, after winning the first in a tiebreaker. But Malis owned the third set 6-3 to knot up the match again.
  • It all came down to number four, where Machado and El Rafie split the first two sets. El Rafie took the first 6-2, while Machado won the second 6-1. In the third set, El Rafie went up 3-0, but Machado came back to take a 5-4 lead and was serving for the match. El Rafie broke him, however, and the match went to a tie-breaker. El Rafie went up 4-1 and cruised to a 7-3 win to clinch the title.

NOTEWORTHY:

  • For the Bucs, it was their eighth runner-up finish, breaking their own NCAA record for the most runner-up finishes. 
  • It was the second loss for Barry in Arizona. The Buccaneers won three times (2013, 2015, 2021) in four previous trips to Surprise. They fell to Columbus State 5-4 in 2018. 
  • The Bucs lost for the first time this season.
  • It was only the second time this year that Barry lost three singles matches (Rollins on Mar. 7).

ON THE HORIZON:

The Bucs end the season second in the nation for the eighth time in school history.

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