TULSA, Oklahoma – The No. 71-ranked University of Denver men's tennis team (18-5, 5-0 Summit) won its third consecutive Summit League title with a 4-0 sweep of North Dakota in the championship match at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday.
 
Denver secured its eighth overall Summit League championship in what was the Pioneers' final season as a member of the Summit League. DU will join the West Coast Conference on July 1, 2026.
 
In the 12 years that the tournament was held since Denver joined the Summit League, DU won the title in eight and appeared in the final in all but one. Denver finishes its tenure in the Summit League with a 61-1 record in regular-season league play and a 19-4 record within the league tournament.
 
Doubles:
Denver won the doubles point off victories on the Nos. 2 and 3 courts – and held a multi-break lead in the No. 1 match – to claim a 1-0 lead early.
 
Senior Raffaello Papajcik and freshman Aaron Beduhn lost no more than one point in a doubles match for the fourth time in 2026, grabbing a 6-1 win at No. 3 doubles to get halfway to that doubles point. Following a break in their first return game, the two Pioneers finished off the match by winning the final four games.
 
About 10 minutes later, senior Ryoma Mishiro and sophomore Samuel Rovai clinched the point for DU – doing so for the sixth time this season, the most by any of Denver's doubles pairings. They went up, 3-0, early in the match, but UND's Ilic/Matsumura got one break back in the fourth game. Mishiro/Rovai answered with an immediate break back again and won three of the final four games to seal it.
 
On the top court, graduate student Connor Robb-Wilcox and sophomore Theo Coats won four games in a row as part of a 5-2 lead they held when Mishiro/Rovai finished their match, leaving the third doubles rubber to be left unfinished.
 
Singles:
It took only about 90 more minutes of play before Denver won three singles matches in straight sets to secure the championship, starting with an eighth consecutive win for Beduhn from the No. 6 spot for the Pioneers. He lost just three total games – doing so in both of his matches as part of the league tournament – starting with a 6-1 win in the first set after winning the first five games of the match. The second set also saw the freshman go on a run, claiming the first three games. North Dakota's Cole Wilber got his first break of the day to keep the set close, but Beduhn held on and eventually gained the two-break lead again late on his way to a 6-2 set at just about the hour mark.
 
Robb-Wilcox gave DU a 3-0 overall lead, losing only one game more than Beduhn. He led 3-0 early but saw UND's Christo Alex get level at 3-3 before the Denver graduate student went on another three-game win streak to claim the first set, 6-3. Twice more in the second set, he won three games in a row – at the start and again at the finish – to win it, 6-1.
 
Both the Nos. 3 and 4 courts were within a game of the clinch for Denver, and it was ultimately Mishiro who got the win first. He started the match from behind after giving up his first service game but rallied from the break deficit to win the final four games of the first set for a 6-3 lead. He turned that into a seven-game win streak with a 3-0 lead in the second frame, though North Dakota's Justin Ilic got one break back to cut Mishiro's lead to 3-2. The DU senior held twice more before breaking one final time, taking the set at 6-3 again and clinching the trophy for Denver.
 
Coats had also won his first set, 6-3, thanks to an early break and had gone on a five-game win streak in the middle of the second set to lead 5-2 there when Mishiro closed out his match and leaving Coats unable to finish his out.
 
Papajcik was also leading by a set when his match was abandoned. He was in control of the first set, leading 4-0 and then 5-3 while UND's Leo Galliano chipped away to get level at 5-5. The DU senior held sturdy, getting to a tiebreak and winning it, then claimed the opening game of the second set in what would be the final points played at No. 1 singles.
 
The final unfinished match was headed to a third set but did not see the final frame begin play. Rovai joined all five of his teammates in winning the first set of his match at No. 2 singles, 6-3, but North Dakota's Darrshan Suresh Kumar started to turn the tables by taking a 4-0 lead in the second before winning it with his own 6-3 result.
 
Up Next:
The No. 71-ranked University of Denver men's tennis team has earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship and will await official selection into the bracket as part of the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, April 27, at 2 p.m. MT.