Men's Tennis | 5/1/2021 6:32:00 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Houghton men's tennis wrapped up an undefeated regular season and claimed its second Empire 8 regular season title in three years with a 6-3 win over Nazareth on Saturday.
The win earns the Highlanders (8-3 overall; 8-0 E8) the top seed in next week's Empire 8 Tournament.
This one wasn't easy for the visiting Highlanders as play was close throughout the afternoon. Houghton claimed wins in first and second doubles by scores of 8-5 and 8-6, respectively. First doubles was neck and neck until the Highlanders took a big game at 4-4, then were able to propel ahead dropping only one more game during the pro set. Second doubles recovered from a shaky changeover at 7-4 which brought the score to 7-6, before closing out at 8-6.
The six singles matches were equally challenging for the Highlanders. Jake Fisler claimed the first win for Houghton in second singles, and it was the only straight-set victory (6-3, 6-4) for the Highlanders on the day. Ethan Yung claimed first singles (7-5, 3-6, 6-4), Micah Schilke won in third singles (5-7, 6-4, 6-3) and Matt Cicero earn the fourth singles win (6-3, 6-7, 6-4)
This is the second undefeated conference season for the men. They went 7-0 in E8 play and earned the top seed in the tournament in 2019.
"It was a really tight match today. Naz came out to play and they gave us a tough run. We needed that heading into post season," said Head Coach
Tonya McGraner. "Obviously we had some great third set close-outs, and I'm really proud of the guys for keeping calm and collected to get the job done. Congrats to the guys on an undefeated regular season.They worked hard every day this semester to earn that. Now it's time for a rest and to start looking ahead to the tournament next week."
The Highlanders will host the winner of the tournament first round match between the fourth and fifth seeds on Friday, May 7. More details about the tournament will be announced early in the week.