CLAREMONT, Calif. – Having to wait around most of the day, the senior No. 11 pair of Stefan Hester and Pato Garcia Muriel finally were able to take to the court for their first-round match at the 2025 NCAA Div. III doubles championship.

After a little more than an hour, the pair claimed All-American honors with a 6-4, 6-4 win over the No. 8 duo of Daniel Ardila and Dylan Blenkiron of Johns Hopkins. These are the first All-American honors for the pair.

The duo will now take on the winner of No. 1 seed Ethan Green and Kael Shah from Denison and Ruilin Feng and Christian Liew of Emory in the quarterfinals on Saturday, May 24 at 2 p.m. PT/4 p.m. CT.

Earlier in the day, No. 18 junior Colin Scruggs won his first set against No. 9 and fourth-seeded Michael Melnikov of Swarthmore before falling in three sets, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Fellow junior No. 21 Eric Kuo also dropped a tight 7-5, 6-4 contest to No. 2 and second-seeded Vuk Vuksanovic of Tufts.