ORLANDO, Fla. -- Azusa Pacific got outmatched in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championships against Flagler, who won 4-0 on Thursday in a match interrupted by lightning at the USTA National Campus.

Azusa Pacific qualified for nationals for the fifth time in program history by winning the PacWest Championships and then defeating Concordia in the NCAA West Regional. However, the Cougars draw a Florida school in the first round amid a Florida lightning storm that delayed the match for several hours in the middle of singles play. Azusa Pacific finished the year with an 18-7 record.

"I'm proud of this team," head coach Mark Bohren said. "It truly was a team effort to help us win the PacWest and regionals. I will miss this group of guys as they were all in when we were losing, winning and everything else in between."

Flagler took the bottom two doubles sets by the same score, 6-2, to win the first point of the match. Philipp Lemkem and Pavlos Parson won the match at No. 2 doubles to help get the Saints off to strong start. Leyton Bohren and Marko Nikoliuk were tied at 5-5 when the doubles point was clinched.

Flagler took an early lead in singles on most courts, but Elias Emilio Walter was tied at 5-5 when the lightning strikes came. He eventually forced a tiebreaker against Petr Cervinka, but Cervinka won the breaker to give the Saints a one-set lead on every court when play resumed late in the night.

The Cougars produced a handful of competitive second sets but strugled to get a change in momentum. At No. 1 singles, Nikita Tatyanin won 6-3, 6-4 against Nikoliuk. Lemkem also won 6-1, 6-4 at No.4 singles against Miha Velicki. Cole Rassner, Walter, and Leyton Bohren were all on serve or up a break in the second set, but the Saints clinched the match at No. 6 singles where Fernando Bulnes won 6-2, 6-3.

Walter finishes the season with the team's best singles record at 16-5, and now has a 31-10 career record. Meanwhile, Leyton Bohren finishes his career at Azusa Pacific with a total of 45 wins.