BOCA RATON, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's tennis team finished their stretch of nationally recognized opponents on Saturday, taking on the second-ranked Keiser University Seahawks at Patch Reef Park in Boca Raton. Against the perennial national powerhouse, the Gyrenes fell 7-0 to the Seahawks, who won all 12 singles sets and swept doubles play.

The closest of the four doubles matches came at the number one spot, between AMU's Fernando Orihuela and Sebastian Grijalva and Keiser's Yassir Kilani and Bart Nouws. Kiliani and Nouws snuck past the Gyrene duo with a 6-4 victory. The doubles point had already been clinched by that point, thanks to a 6-1 win by Geronimo Barrios and Soufiane El Mesbahi at the second spot, and a 6-2 win at number three by Charly Zick / Luke Simkiss.

Ave Maria couldn't get much traction in singles play, facing a Keiser lineup that features four of the top 25 players in the nation. The closest set was the first between Grijalva and Fred Oervad, which saw Oervad win 6-4 in the first between cruising to a 6-0 win in the second, which also provided the clinching point for the Seahawks. Orihuela also took four points from his opponent, falling 6-3, 6-1 to 20th-ranked Barrios at the number two spot. 

Saturday's match concluded a stretch of six nationally recognized opponents to start the season for Ave Maria. The Gyrenes earned two wins in the month of February, including a conference win over Southeastern and a win over one of the better west coast teams in the NAIA in Ottawa of Arizona. The stretch also featured two NCAA Division II powers, as well as two of the top teams in The Sun Conference.

Next on the schedule for the Gyrenes is Mount Vernon Nazarene University, who will come to the AMU campus on Tuesday afternoon. The Gyrenes will play three matches and one exhibition next week, facing SCAD and Eastern Nazarene, as well as a neutral site exhibition against Piedmont.