Perfect Ten! Stevens Wins Their Tenth-Straight E8 Men's Tennis Title
Ducks Roll to Another E8 Title in Impressive Fashion
Stevens powered past top-seeded Houghton 5-0 in the Empire 8 Men's Tennis Championship finals on Saturday. Stevens moves to 14-9 on the year with the win and earns the conference's automatic qualifying bid for the 2019 NCAA Championships. Houghton's impressive season on the courts comes to an end with a 11-4 overall record.
CLOSER LOOK
Like their E8 Semifinal win, the Ducks grabbed an early lead and quickly clinched the match in singles competition. Freshman
Marc Feliu Gomez was named tournament MVP after going 2-0 in singles and doubles competition in the championship win.
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"It felt great to bring the title home, especially being a young team and after going through a rough start in the beginning of the season," stated Feliu Gomez. "I am proud to see how far we've come and how the team came together to win some great matches and win the conference once again."
Sophomore
Bryan Szayna and Feliu Gomez continued their winning ways in No. 1 doubles. The duo bested
Louis-Guillame Garcia and
Jake Fisher 8-2 in the first singles flight to get the first team point on the board for the Ducks. Sophomore
Mark Kanevsky and freshman
Arjun Krishnan increased Stevens' lead to 2-0 after an 8-1 win in the No. 3 doubles flight. The sophomore pairing of
Keegan Morris and
Gabriel Sifuentes completed the doubles sweep with an 8-1 victory of their own in the second doubles flight.
The Ducks wasted no time in the singles competition to clinch their tenth consecutive conference title and punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships. Feliu Gomez defeated Garcia in straight-sets 6-0, 6-1 to give Stevens a commanding 4-0 lead. Szayna followed suit with a straight-set win of his own 6-3, 6-1 to secure the win for the Ducks. Stevens closes out their impressive run in the E8 with eleven titles overall.
"I'm very proud of how we competed today to capture our 10
th straight conference title," said Stevens Head Coach
Steve Gachko. "Our guys have shown a progression of growth and maturity throughout this season and we are hoping to keep this positive momentum going into NCAA's."
2019 Men's Tennis Tournament Schedule:
- All matches to take place at Mendon Racquet & Pool Club, Pittsford, N.Y. -
Friday, May 3
Semifinal Round
No. 1 Houghton 5, No. 4 Alfred 0
No. 2 Stevens 5, No. 3 St. John Fisher 0
Saturday, May 4
Championship Final
No. 2 Stevens 5, No. 1 Houghton 0
- Information for this reelase provided by the athletic communications staff at Stevens -
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com and
https://youtu.be/wzL4HcDoUUQ