ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Facing Washburn in the first round of the NCAA DII Men's Tennis Championships, the Concordia University Irvine Golden Eagles got off to a strong start in their debut on the national stage.

Both squads entered Tuesday with 20-3 overall records. CUI had won seven in a row and was the No. 10 seed in the bracket. Meanwhile, the Ichabods brought a 10-game winning streak to the table as the No. 7 seed in the tournament.

Concordia announced its presence with a 1-0 lead in the match by winning the important doubles point. Felix Veyhle and Max Mueller excelled once again at the No. 1 pairing, prevailing 6-2 over Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle of Washburn.

Meanwhile on court three, Adam Large and Max Renz outlasted their opponents 6-3 to pick up the early lead for the Golden Eagles.

In singles action, Large took the first set in his match up at the No. 3 position. Veyhle was in a dogfight at the No. 2 slot, and his first set with Vaclav Schneider was basically a coin toss that went to his opponent, 7-6 (8-6).

Washburn nailed down a win at court one to tie things up and then moved in front with wins at the No. 4 and no. 6 positions. That made it 3-1 in favor of the higher-seeded Ichabods.

Mueller extended his draw at No. 5 to a third set, rallying 6-3 in the second after losing his opening set 3-6 to Zinovii Nahirniak. At the same time, Large put the finishing touches on a 7-5, 6-0 win at court three to get CUI within 3-2 in the overall count.

With all the athletes battling the humidity, things came down to the two former Westcliff teammates, as Veyhle and Mueller continued to compete for the chance at a 4-3 comeback win. However, Schneider outlasted Veyhle at No. 2 singles by pulling away 6-2 to clinch the match for Washburn, 4-2.

CUI closes its best season in program history with an overall record of 20-4. The Golden Eagles captured their first PacWest Conference title in April and upended top-seeded Azusa Pacific to claim the crown. The team finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the league and all four losses this year came against ranked opponents (Washburn, APU and Lubbock Christian).  CUI punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships by defeating Point Loma for the fourth time this season, when the Golden Eagles hosted the NCAA DII West Regional for the first time.

All of the eight higher seeds advanced on Tuesday, but Concordia was the only team to earn at least two points in its match. All the other decisions were by a count of 4-0 or 4-1.

Washburn will face No. 2 seed Barry in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 21 at 3 p.m. local Eastern Time in Florida. (12 p.m. PT).

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