ORLANDO, Fla. – Tarm Rojanasoonthon (Fy./Bangkok, Thailand/Chulalongkorn) saw his rookie season at Carleton College come to a close on Friday with a first-round loss in the singles bracket of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship. He dropped a 7-6 (3), 6-3 result to Tristan Bradley of Bowdoin College in the tournament opener.
 
The Carleton rookie raced out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set, but Bradley won the next three games to level the match. Rojanasoonthon won again to go up 6-5, but Bradley held serve and forced the tiebreaker, where the Polar Bear's No 1 player jumped out to a 3-1 advantage en route to a 7-3 outcome.
 
In the second set, Bradley got an early break to go up 3-1 and maintained his advantage the rest of the way.
 
Showcasing the importance of experience at the national tournament, Rojanasoonthon was 1 of only 4 first-years in the 32-player field for the NCAA Championships. Of that quartet, only one prevailed in the opening round.
 
Rojanasoonthon posted a 15-3 record this season, with all three setbacks coming against ranked opponents. He is the fourth Carleton men's tennis player to have qualified for the NCAA Singles Championships. The others on that list include 2021 national champion Leo Vithoontien '21 along with Carleton 'C' Club Hall of Famers Doug Sauter '82 and Tom James '89. Rojanasoonthon joins James and Vithoontien as NCAA Championship individual qualifiers during their respective rookie seasons.