GREENVILLE, S.C. – The 2026 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship started on Monday and both Conference Carolinas teams fell in the opening round. The University of Mount Olive fell at Catawba College while Belmont Abbey College fell at Columbus State University.

Eight-seeded Mount Olive fell at top seed Catawba 4-1. The Trojans took the doubles point with wins at the second and third flights. Philip Peter Carstensen and Luke Oosthuizen defeated Santiago Passoni and Alen Bill 6-0 at No. 2 doubles before Hiroma Nishikata and Niklas Gruenefeldt topped Mateo Berne and Alessandro Valletta 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.

However, the Indians came back with four singles wins at the first, third, fourth and sixth flights to take the dual 4-1.

Mount Olive finished the season with a 14-6 record.

Seventh seed Belmont Abbey fell at second seed Columbus State 4-0. The Cougars took the doubles point with wins at the second and third flights. Columbus State then won singles matches at the first, second and fourth flights to clinch the dual 4-0.

Belmont Abbey closes its season at 23-18 after making its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.