MOBILE, Ala. — The historic 2026 season for Missouri Baptist University men's tennis came to an end on Wednesday afternoon as the No. 12 seed Spartans fell to No. 5 seed Southeastern University, 4-1, in the NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship Second Round at the Mobile Tennis Center.
Despite the loss, MBU wrapped up the most successful season in program history, finishing with a school-record 21 victories while also capturing the program's first-ever Heart of America Conference Tournament championship and first NAIA National Championship victory following Tuesday's 4-1 win over Marian University in the opening round.
Southeastern claimed the doubles point with victories at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to take the early advantage.
The Spartans battled throughout singles play and earned their lone point from Ruslan Anurev at No. 4 singles, with a 7-6, 6-2 victory.
Luca Ebenriter pushed No. 23 nationally ranked Piero Fernandez to three sets at the top singles position before falling 2-6, 6-3, 1-6. Sebastian Junghanns also forced a tightly contested second set at No. 3 singles before Southeastern secured the clinching point with a 6-2, 7-6 win.
Arkhip Tokmakov and Nicolas Sanchez were both locked in unfinished matches when the contest concluded.
The Spartans close the season at 21-7 overall after producing a year filled with program milestones, including conference championship success, a national tournament breakthrough and the winningest campaign in MBU men's tennis history.
