ST. PETER, Minn. – The Carleton College men's tennis team saw its season come to an end with a 4-0 loss at No. 31-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College in the finals of the MIAC Playoffs.
 
The Knights (17-4) and Gusties (19-11) matched up in the MIAC Championship for the ninth time in the last ten conference tournaments and the 15th time since 2007. This is Gustavus' 14th straight MIAC Playoffs crown and 17th overall. Carleton is the only other program to win the conference's postseason tournament, besting the Gusties in 2010.
 
After Gustavus won 6-2 at No. 2 doubles on Saturday, Carleton's top tandem — Jack Rivkin and Akshay Garapati — notched a 7-5 victory at No. 1 doubles to avenge an 8-1 regular-season loss to the Gusties' duo of Gage Cohl and Tyler Haddorff, the No. 6-ranked pairing in the nation.
 
"Bitcoin, quantum mechanics, and our No. 1 doubles' game plan – all of those continue to dazzle an delude me," said Carleton head coach Stephan Zweifel.
 
Gustavus later secured the doubles team point thanks to a 6-4 victory at the third slot.
 
Gustavus used victories at No. 1, No. 3, and No. 5 singles to claim the match and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
 
Dominik Knutson defeated Garapati 6-4, 6-0 at the third spot in the lineup, followed by a 6-1, 6-2 win by Cohl, the No. 32-ranked singles player in the country, over Baiyun Jing at No. 1 singles. Haddorff clinched the team result with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Ezra Bernhard at the fifth slot.
 
After dropping the opening set at No. 4 singles 6-0, Carleton's Zach Leslie was leading the second set 4-3 when play was halted. Rookie Aiden Patel was in a similar position at No. 2 singles. He lost the first set 6-4 but possessed a 4-3 advantage in the second set. Rivkin dropped the first set at No. 6 singles to Taona Mhwandagara, 6-3, but was level at 4-4 in the second set when the teams walked off the court.