BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Yeshiva University men's tennis team's season came to an end in the NCAA Tournament, on Thursday afternoon, as the Maccabees fell in their first-round matchup to the Lions of Eastern Nazarene College, 5-1, at the Pickard Tennis Courts.

Eastern Nazarene (17-7) will face host and nationally-ranked No. 8 Bowdoin College, in the second round of the NCAA Postseason, on Friday at 1:15 p.m.

It was a successful season for Yeshiva (14-8), as the Maccabees captured its sixth straight Skyline Conference Championship and automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

"Quite a day and quite a season," Yeshiva University head coach Jon Rubinstein said.

The Lions won two out of three doubles matches, and all three completed singles contests, to earn a berth in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Yeshiva's lone doubles victory came courtesy of freshman Aaron Cohen and junior Lior Brik, in the second position, by a score of 8-6. Freshman Amram Wahnon and classmate Samuel Edery rallied to tie their third doubles flight, 7-7, but fell short in the tiebreaker, 7-5.

"Great fighting comeback by third doubles from two breaks down to almost win it," Rubinstein said. "If we take that match, the pressure would have been on Eastern Nazarene. They were deeper than us, but we fought hard to keep it close."

In singles, freshman Meir Melamed won the opening set of his unfinished No. 6 singles flight, 6-1.

"This season was probably my best season as a head coach," Rubinstein said. "The guys improved so much from beginning to end. We have a lot of freshman who never played team tennis before. It took some time to realize the challenges of playing on a competitive NCAA team. They had their breakthrough matches, and once that happened and they learned how to win, the team took off."

Senior Mikey Ozery concluded his illustrious career with four Skyline Conference Championships, two victories in the NCAA Tournament, Skyline Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, two appearances on the All-Skyline first team, and the conference's Rookie of the Year.

"So proud of how this team overcomes obstacles and competes on a regular basis," Rubinstein said. "I'm excited to see how much better they can get with even more experience."

The men's tennis team will return to action in fall of 2019.