Despite coming out strong in both matches, the non-scoring portion of the Michigan men’s tennis team’s season came to a close on Friday and Evan King, Michigan’s representative in the USTA/ITA National Indoors Championship, was eliminated.

King traveled to Flushing, NY with assistant coach Sean Maymi, hoping to use the tournament as a way to end fall play on a high note. Instead, King left Friday disappointed, having lost both of his matches.

In a tournament consisting of some of the best tennis players in the country, the sophomore dropped two hard-fought matches against two strong opponents, Ryan Lipman from Vanderbilt and Ionut Beleleu of Oklahoma – both top-35 players.

Although each match resulted in defeats for King and a great deal of frustration, he is looking to use this experience to his advantage moving forward.

“He is as disappointed as any athlete is after tough losses, but he can learn and build from them. The losses will give him something to improve on come January,” Maymi said after King’s second loss. King was not made available for comment.

In King’s main draw match, he came out on top in the first set, only to lose a tough second set in a tiebreak, as well as the third set. The consolation match had a similar feel. King handily won the first set, only to see his hopes dwindle as he was defeated in the final two sets, sending him back to Ann Arbor in disappointment.

“King lost both matches in similar fashion but it’s something to work on,” Maymi said. “He got down on himself (in each match), but he knows he can bounce back from it.”

For King and Maymi, positive takeaways from the weekend are not hard to find. King came out strong, taking the first set in each match, against two quality opponents.

“The tournament had some of the best players in the country. It was good for Evan to be exposed to that high level of competition,” Maymi said.

Although King left unhappy, he can still look up and look toward the scoring part of the season. And for King, January can’t come soon enough.