MOBILE, Ala.- The Ave Maria University men's tennis team could not scale the mountain that is the seven-time defending national champions, falling 4-0 to the Grizzlies of Georgia Gwinnett College at the Mobile Tennis Center in the second round of the NAIA Men's Tennis Championship. The win was Georgia Gwinnett's 29th consecutive national tournament win, while Ave Maria's 2022 season ends in the Sweet 16.

Facing three of the top 12 doubles teams in the nation, the Gyrenes couldn't keep Georgia Gwinnett from taking the doubles point. GGC's 12th ranked team of Vicente Lagos and Guilhem Perez Le Tiec rolled to a 6-0 win at the third flight, and No. 5 Matthias Haim and Daniel Czepielewski clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win at the second spot. In the first flight, AMU's Nicholas Hofmeister and Bruno Duarte battled the top doubles team in the nation, Valentino Caratini and Agustin Tamagnone, who held a 4-2 lead when the match was stopped.

Georgia Gwinnett won three matches at the top four spots to clinch the match victory and advance to the national quarterfinals. The three Grizzly wins came from three of the top 14 players in the nation. No. 9 Alex Gurmendi won 6-2, 6-1 at the second flight, while No. 3 Matthias Haim was a 6-2, 6-3 winner at the number one spot. The clinching point was provided by No. 14 Valentino Caratini, who earned a 6-4, 6-1 win.

Carlos Thireau provided Ave Maria with their top performance of the day. The Frenchman took a set from the Grizzlies' number six player, Max Stewart. Stewart won the first set, 6-1, but Thireau answered with a 6-1 win in the second set. Thireau led in the third set, 2-1, when the Grizzlies clinched the match. In the other two unfinished matches, Fernando Orihuela was tied 3-3 in the second set after a narrow loss in the first set at the third flight, while Guilherme Bento trailed 6-4, 5-2 at the fifth flight.

Ave Maria's 2022 season was one for the history books, as the Gyrenes became the first team in any sport to advance to the Sweet 16 in school history, and just the second team ever to win a match in the national tournament. The 2022 season is likely to serve as a springboard into further national prominence for AMU, as the majority of the Sweet 16 team is slated to return for 2023.