The top Utah men’s tennis doubles unit, the No. 23-ranked team of seniors David Mercier and Nik Yip, fell in the first round at the NCAA Championships doubles tournament, held on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

The two Utes, the only U representatives at the NCAA Championships, lost in the first round of 32 to a team from Auburn University in the two teams’ final set.

The Yip/Mercier tandem fell to the Auburn Tigers combination of Andrew Colombo and Mark Kovacs, ranked No. 11 in the nation. Utah’s Yip/Mercier team couldn’t hold court with Colombo/Kovacs, as the Utes lost by a score of 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

The NCAA Championships concluded the career for the two U seniors, and it closed the book on the 2002 season for the U men’s tennis team.

Yip and Mercier qualified for the position into the NCAA Championships by downing New Mexico’s Brent Salazar and Ryan Stotland at the Mountain West Conference Championships.