TULSA, Okla. -- UC Davis junior Alec Adamson battled the 40th-ranked player in the nation through a three-set marathon on Wednesday afternoon, but came up just short as Northwestern's Sam Shropshire ousted the Aggie junior, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5, in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.

"It was a very good performance on a big stage," Head Coach Eric Steidlmayer said. "A tough loss, but we are so proud of what he has accomplished. Alec brought his 'A' game today, he just came up one point shy."

After bouncing back from a tiebreaker loss in the first set to post a 6-4 win in the second, Adamson fought back from down 3-1 in the third and had the Wildcats' sophomore on the ropes in the final set, going up 5-4 and twice had match point before a pair of aces by Shropshire tied things up at 5-all. Northwestern's No. 2 singles player then took the final two games to win the set, 7-5, and close out the victory.

It was the 16th three-set match of the season for the Corona del Mar, Calif., native, leading the team in that category.

The 2016 Big West Conference Player of the Year wrapped up a campaign as the first-ever Aggie to compete at the NCAA Tournament in the program's Division I Era. Adamson finishes his season 20-15 overall and 11-9 in dual matches, earning All-Big West first team honors in both singles and doubles for the second time in his career and honored for his success in both singles and doubles for the third straight season.

Shropshire represented the seventh nationally ranked foe for Adamson throughout the course of the season -- six of those ranked among the top 50 in the nation at the time of the match.

As a team, UC Davis finished the year ranked No. 71 in the nation according to the final Oracle/ITA Division I polls released on Wednesday, after setting a program Division I-best national ranking of No. 49 at one point during the year. The Aggies finished 17-7 overall during the spring, setting a new Division I standard for wins in a single-season and posting the most wins more a quarter century since the 1991 squad finished 18-5.

UC Davis, as a team, was one of three Big West Conference schools listed among the top 75 teams in the nation, and faced eight teams ranked in the final poll: No. 9 California, No. 12 USC, No. 21 Stanford, No. 44 UC Santa Barbara, No. 53 Pepperdine, No. 62 Cal Poly, No. 70 Pacific, and No. 74 Portland.

Final individual singles and doubles rankings will be released by the ITA at the conclusion of the NCAA Championships on June 1, 2016.