Morningside suffered a close 5-4 setback against Doane in the opening round of the GPAC Men’s Tennis Championship.

Morningside bowed out of the GPAC Men’s Tennis Championship tournament with a 5-4 loss against Doane in Friday’s first round action in Fremont, Neb.

The Mustangs’ margin of defeat displayed vast improvement from a 7-2 loss against the Tigers during the regular season.

Morningside finished the campaign with a record of 2-13, while Doane improved its mark to 9-7 and will face GPAC regular season champion Hastings in Friday’s semifinals.

Danny Graves played a role in two of the Mustangs’ four victories in the Doane dual. Graves won in straight sets with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph against Tyler Johnson at No. 2 singles and paired with Hunter Ren for a 9-7 victory at No. 2 doubles. Graves, a freshman, finished the season with a 13-7 singles record for the best mark on the team.

Austin Grundy also won his match in straight sets at No. 1 singles to finish with a 13-8 record. Grundy was ahead 6-3, 4-1 against Sebastian Gardefjord when his opponent retired.

Alex Struck came back from a first set loss to defeat Daichi Ozawa 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 at No. 4 singles to finish the campaign with a 10-10 record.

Doane 5, Morningside 4

Singles
Austin Grundy (M) def. Sebastian Gardefjord, 6-3, 4-1 (retired)
Danny Graves (M) def. Tyler Johnson, 6-2, 6-3.
Kristian Kiland (D) def. Hunter Renn, 6-3, 6-0.
Alex Struck (M) def. Daichi Ozawa, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.
Muij Ghani (D) def. Jordan Ogren, 6-1, 6-0.
Chance Hohensee (D) def. Dillon Stane, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles
Gardefjord-Dylan Ramey (D) def. Grundy-Struck, 8-4.
Graves-Renn (M) def. Johnson-Ghani, 9-7.
Kiland-Aaron Cook (D) def. Stane-Ites, 8-0.