MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The William Carey Men's Tennis Teams bid for a fifth tournament title and second straight came up short , as they fell to Middle Georgia State 4-3, Saturday morning at Lagoon Park.

The Crusaders took the early lead winning the point at doubles with wins at #1 and #3 doubles.  From there the teams went back and forth with Carey getting wins from Noah Rockstroh winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 at #3 singles and Matt Shearer 6-3, 6-1 at #5 singles.

MGA however would get wins at #1, #4, and #6 singles to even the match at three all. The deciding match came down to Naufal Kamaruzzaman (MGA) and Thomas Drapeau (WCU) at #2 singles. Kamaruzzaman would take the first set 6-1 but Drapeau stayed alive battling to a 7-5 win in the second set but could not hang on in the deciding third set failing 6-4.

Before the championship the SSAC announced the 2023 Men's Tennis Award winners with Jean Nicolas Leblanc earning SSAC Freshman of the Year honors, Noah Rockstroh being named SSAC Newcomer of the Year, and Marc Lux being named SSAC Coach of the Year.

The SSAC All-Conference selections were announced as well with Rockstroh, Anton Magnusson, Leblanc, Drapeau, Matt Shearer, Ibra Urinov being selected.  Also announced was the Barnes & Noble College All-Academic team and Nikolas Elenkov, Rockstroh, Tyler Schofield, Magnusson, and Urinov earned the honor.