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Flagler College produced one of the most significant results in recent NCAA Division II men’s tennis history on May 24, 2026, defeating Barry University 4-3 to win the national championship at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex in Surprise, Arizona.
For the Saints, the victory was about far more than a single dramatic afternoon. It marked the program’s first NCAA national title, a breakthrough moment after finishing as the national runner-up in 2024. It also gave Flagler College its third men’s tennis national title overall, adding NCAA glory to the NAIA championships the program won in 1977 and 1986.
The result stood out immediately because of the opponent and the broader context. Barry entered the title match as the tournament’s No. 1 seed, ranked No. 2 nationally and carrying a perfect 25-0 record. Flagler was the No. 6 seed and ranked No. 4 in the ITA Division II poll. Barry had also dominated the series for decades, with the Saints having lost 23 straight matches to the Buccaneers and not having beaten them since February 19, 1994.
That history made the final score even more striking. Flagler did not just edge a familiar rival. It ended an unbeaten season, broke a decades-long losing streak in the matchup, and secured the NCAA crown by winning the final court in a pressure-packed third-set tiebreak.
The championship began with Flagler gaining the kind of early control every underdog wants. The Saints secured the doubles point by taking two of the three courts.
At No. 1 doubles, the No. 30 pairing of Ilian Borlee and Simon Malis defeated Barry’s Riccardo Trione and Simone Cavalleri 6-3. Then at No. 3 doubles, Aniss Rafiq and Oliver Hradilek added a 6-4 win over Yan Kodjoed and Antonin Chapuis. That gave Flagler a 1-0 lead before singles play started.
Momentum only built from there. Rafiq, ranked No. 35 in Division II singles, produced one of the most eye-catching wins of the day by beating Barry’s No. 2-ranked Yan Kodjoed 6-2, 6-1 in straight sets. Suddenly, Flagler led 2-0 and had placed the unbeaten favorites under real pressure.
But this final was never going to be that simple. Barry answered with three straight singles victories and flipped the dual.
With those results, Barry moved in front 3-2. The championship was suddenly on the edge for Flagler, which now needed to win both of the remaining matches.
Malis kept the Saints alive. Playing at No. 1 singles, he defeated No. 16 Trione 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, leveling the team score at 3-3 and pushing the entire national title onto one final court.
That left No. 4 singles and Aly El Rafie with the championship in his hands. El Rafie won the first set 6-2, then dropped the second 1-6 as Barry’s Thomas Machado forced a deciding third. El Rafie built a 4-1 lead in that final set, only to see Machado come back and send it to a tiebreak. In the biggest moment of the season, El Rafie responded, winning the breaker 7-3 and clinching Flagler’s first NCAA championship.
Sometimes a title run is shaped by a favorable draw. That was not the case here. Flagler’s path through the NCAA tournament looked more like a gauntlet than an opening.
Before defeating Barry in the final, the Saints had already beaten No. 11 Queens, No. 3 Lubbock Christian University and No. 2 West Florida. By the time the tournament ended, Flagler had taken down the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams on back-to-back days.
The quarterfinal on May 21 against Lubbock Christian was decisive. Flagler swept the match 4-0. Borlee and Malis, along with Rafiq and Hradilek, provided the doubles point. In singles, Hradilek, Rafiq and El Rafie finished the job. The win sent the Saints to the semifinal and tied the program record for victories in a season at 22.
Then came the semifinal on May 23 against top-ranked University of West Florida, a 4-2 victory that announced Flagler as a legitimate title threat rather than simply a surviving seed. Malis delivered one of the best individual wins in program history, beating Division II’s No. 1 singles player, Sebastian Rondon, 6-1, 6-4. According to Flagler’s athletic department, he became the first Saint to defeat the No. 1-ranked singles player in Division II. Rafiq added another major result with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 3 Diego Duran, while Borlee and Hradilek also won singles matches.
That context matters in evaluating the title. Flagler did not simply catch a single team on the wrong day. The Saints earned the championship by repeatedly defeating elite competition under escalating pressure.
For Flagler College, this championship stands as the defining NCAA achievement in program history. The Saints had already established themselves as a respected tennis program, and their earlier NAIA titles showed that the foundation for success had existed for decades. But the NCAA breakthrough carried different weight because it completed a journey the program had been building toward in the modern era.
The pain of finishing runner-up in 2024 likely sharpened that pursuit. Programs often talk about using a championship loss as motivation, but in college tennis, converting that experience into a title requires more than emotion. It takes returning talent, improved depth, match toughness and the ability to perform in decisive moments across several courts at once.
Flagler showed all of that in Surprise.
The Saints also demonstrated roster balance, a trait that often separates good teams from championship teams. Senior Ilian Borlee, juniors Simon Malis and Aly El Rafie, redshirt freshman Aniss Rafiq and freshman Oliver Hradilek all played meaningful roles during the run. Different players delivered at different times, whether in doubles, in straight-set singles wins, or in the most stressful stages of a clinching match.
Head coach Jonas Piibor’s team looked complete. There was top-end shotmaking, proven doubles chemistry and enough lineup depth to withstand the emotional swings of high-level postseason tennis. In the final against Barry, that balance mattered. When the Buccaneers surged ahead 3-2, Flagler still had experienced players in position to answer. Malis handled the pressure on Court 1, and El Rafie finished the job on Court 4.
Part of what made the championship so compelling was the history behind the matchup. Barry did not enter as just another top seed. The Buccaneers brought a 25-0 record into the title match and had controlled this series for a generation. Flagler had not beaten Barry since 1994.
That kind of streak can become psychological as much as statistical. Every new meeting arrives with the weight of past results. For athletes and coaches, those narratives can be difficult to escape unless a team has enough maturity to stay inside the current match.
Flagler did exactly that. The Saints started strong, absorbed Barry’s mid-match comeback, and then executed under pressure when the title narrowed to two final singles courts. That ability to reset after momentum shifts is one of the clearest markers of a championship-caliber team.
It is also a useful lesson for recruits and families following college tennis closely. Team success is not always linear. A program can spend years building toward one moment through recruiting, player development, lineup competition and postseason experience. When the breakthrough finally comes, it often looks sudden from the outside, even though it has been forming for a long time inside the program.
For high school players and transfer prospects exploring college tennis, Flagler’s title run is the kind of story worth studying. It shows what can be true in Division II: elite matches, national stakes, high-level international and domestic talent, and real opportunities to compete for championships.
Too many families still evaluate college tennis through a narrow Division I lens. But Division II programs can offer strong competitive schedules, serious player development and meaningful postseason opportunities. Flagler’s run through Queens, Lubbock Christian, West Florida and Barry illustrates just how high the level can be.
It also highlights several recruiting truths:
For players beginning their search, Pathley’s Tennis Pathley Hub can help families compare programs, explore college options and better understand where they may fit competitively. Athletes who want a more personalized school-by-school look can also use the College Fit Snapshot to evaluate how a specific program aligns with their academic and athletic goals.
Flagler’s championship also brings added visibility to the college itself. Located in St. Augustine, Florida, the school competes in NCAA Division II and has built a notable athletic profile alongside its academic identity. A national title in men’s tennis adds another layer to that reputation and puts the program in front of recruits who may not have previously been considering the school.
That visibility matters in modern recruiting. Winning a championship often changes how prospects view a program, but it also changes how they view a campus. Athletes who may have first heard of Flagler through the NCAA tournament are likely to explore the college more closely afterward, from academics to location to roster construction.
Families interested in learning more about the school can explore the college directly through Pathley’s Flagler College page or browse other options in the Pathley College Directory.
Malis played a central role in the title run. He contributed in doubles throughout the tournament and delivered perhaps the most symbolic singles result of the semifinal when he beat West Florida’s Sebastian Rondon, the No. 1 singles player in Division II. In the final, he again came through under pressure, defeating Riccardo Trione after dropping the first set and leveling the team score at 3-3.
Rafiq’s impact was enormous. His straight-set win over Barry star Yan Kodjoed, who was ranked No. 2 in Division II singles, gave Flagler its 2-0 lead in the championship match. He also earned a major comeback win over West Florida’s Diego Duran in the semifinal. Those results made him one of the most important swing players in the entire tournament.
Championships are often remembered through one image, and for Flagler that image will likely be El Rafie closing out the third-set tiebreak against Thomas Machado. His clincher turned a strong season into a historic one. He also contributed in the quarterfinal against Lubbock Christian, underscoring that his tournament value went well beyond one final point.
Borlee and Hradilek helped shape the run in both doubles and singles. Their doubles contributions were essential in the quarterfinal and final, and Hradilek’s singles play helped the Saints move through the bracket. Borlee’s veteran presence also mattered as part of a lineup that needed resilience after Barry’s mid-match surge.
There is a difference between being respected and being champion-tested. Flagler now carries both labels. The Saints have moved from contender to title winner, and that shift affects everything from recruiting conversations to preseason expectations.
Opposing teams will now view Flagler differently. Recruits will too. The Saints have proof that they can beat elite teams on the biggest stage, and they did it in a way that should be remembered nationally: by upsetting the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country on consecutive days and by finishing the job against an unbeaten rival that had long controlled the head-to-head series.
That combination of results gives this championship staying power. It was not just close. It was consequential.
Readers who want to review the official reporting and event details can find more at the NCAA championship coverage and Flagler Athletics match recaps. Key sources for this story include the official NCAA recap at https://www.ncaa.com/news/tennis-men/article/2026-05-23/flagler-wins-2026-dii-mens-tennis-championship, Flagler Athletics’ championship story at https://flaglerathletics.com/news/2026/5/24/MTEN_052426_Barry_national_title.aspx, the semifinal recap at https://flaglerathletics.com/news/2026/5/23/mens-tennis-saints-upset-no-1-west-florida-to-advance-to-the-national-championship.aspx, and the quarterfinal recap at https://flaglerathletics.com/news/2026/5/21/mens-tennis-saints-advance-to-the-final-four.aspx.
Additional context on the college is available through Flagler’s institutional information page at https://www.flagler.edu/about/flagler-facts-and-rankings, while Barry’s pre-match perspective can be found at https://gobarrybucs.com/news/2026/5/23/mens-tennis-takes-on-saints-for-national-championship.aspx.
Flagler College’s 4-3 win over Barry University will be remembered as one of the defining NCAA Division II men’s tennis results of the 2026 season. The Saints captured their first NCAA national championship, their third national title overall, and did it by defeating the strongest teams left in the bracket. From the doubles point in the final to El Rafie’s decisive tiebreak, the run was built on poise, depth and timely individual brilliance.
For athletes, families and coaches following college tennis, this story is also a reminder that championship opportunities exist across the NCAA landscape when the fit is right. If you are exploring programs, comparing divisions or trying to build a smarter recruiting plan, Pathley can help you get started with the Pathley College Directory, the Tennis Pathley Hub, or by creating a free profile at https://app.pathley.ai/sign_up.
