Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College men's tennis team won its first Northeast-10 Conference Championship with a 4-1 victory over Franklin Pierce University on Saturday afternoon at Nottingham High School.
By virtue of winning the conference championship, the Dolphins earn the NE10's automatic bid in the NCAA Championships. The field for the DII men's tennis championship will be announced on Tuesday, May 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. In last week's NCAA East Region rankings, the Dolphins were third.
The Dolphins (10-0) claimed the point in the doubles competition for the 10th straight match. At the first position, senior
Tom Jarry (Paris, France/CNED Toulouse/Emmanuel) and fifth-year
Philip Blythe (Edinburgh, Scotland/Merchiston) moved to 7-1 on the season with a 6-3 victory over Felipe Carvalho and Preston Gordon. Kevin Denecheau and Ivan Bernal evened the doubles at one apiece with a 6-3 win at the second position over seniors
Jared Howard (Malmesbury, South Africa/Homeschooled/ASA College) and
James Howard (Malmesbury, South Africa/Homeschooled/ASA College). Sophomores
Felipe Cruz (San Jose, Costa Rica/Blue Valley School/Saint Louis) and
Ethan Miller (Swindon, England/Cirencetser Kingshill School) secured the doubles point with a 6-4 victory at the third position over Yuval Barak and Nkrumah Patrick.
Le Moyne won three of the fourth matches in the singles competition to finish to claim the conference championship. Jarry gave the Dolphins a 2-0 lead on the afternoon and improved to 7-0 on the year by defeating fellow Frenchman Denecheau at the second spot, 6-1, 6-2. Sophomore
Kacper Piekarek (Wroclaw, Poland/Autorskrie Licea Artystyczne Akademickie/Missouri-Kansas City) extended Le Moyne's lead to 3-0 and his record on the year to 9-0 by topping Barak, 6-4, 6-1, at the fifth position. Bernal kept the Ravens in the match with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win at the third spot over Blythe.
Jared Howard clinched the NE10 Championship by rallying for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win at the first position over Carvalho to remain unbeaten on the season (9-0).
