Nolan and Patten Suffer First Loss of Season in First Round of 2019 NCAA Doubles Championship

ORLANDO, Fla. – The nationally fourth-seeded duo of Oli Nolan and Henry Patten closed out their historic 2018-19 season with a tough 6-3, 6-7 (8-10) loss to Payton Holden and Ryan Seggerman of Princeton in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Doubles Championship at the USTA National Campus on Tuesday, May 21.

The loss was the first of the season for the Bulldog doubles duo.

Nolan and Patten raced out to a 6-3 first set win, but Holden and Seggerman battled back to narrowly take a 7-6 win in the second set.

Per the championship rules, a 10- point match tiebreaker was played in lieu of a third set next. Holden and Seggerman took a 3-0 lead early, but Nolan and Patten came back to tie things at 3-3. The two would trade points back and forth over the next few points with the third set 10-point tiebreaker tied at 8-8 before the nationally 34^th-ranked Princeton doubles duo picked up the 10-8 victory to close out the match.

The No. 4 national seed at the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Doubles Championship for Nolan and Patten marked the first national seed in the history of Big South men's tennis. The Bulldog duo were just the second doubles pairing in the history of the league to earn a spot in the NCAA Doubles Championship according to conference records.

Nolan and Patten are currently ranked fourth nationally in the latest Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. The duo was ranked No. 1 nationally for three consecutive polls early in the spring semester.

The duo was undefeated during the 2018-19 season entering the NCAA Doubles Championship. The doubles pairing went undefeated playing together during the fall and won three titles including the national championship victory at the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.

Nolan and Patten were a perfect 7-0 during the spring season en route to earning first-team all-league accolades. Patten was named the Big South Men's Tennis Player of the Year for the third straight year, while also being named the All-Academic Team for the third consecutive year. Nolan was also named to the All-Big South team in singles as well as doubles.

As a team, UNC Asheville men's tennis finished the 2019 spring campaign with an impressive 20-5 overall record. The Bulldogs were a perfect 10-0 in matches played at home at the Asheville Racquet Club Downtown. UNC Asheville's 20 wins this past season was a program record.

Nolan and Patten Suffer First Loss of Season in First Round of 2019 NCAA Doubles Championship

Players Mentioned

Oli Nolan

Henry Patten

Players Mentioned

Oli Nolan

Henry Patten

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics