AUSTIN, Texas. – The Marist men's tennis team (15-5, 7-0 MAAC) fell to ninth-seeded Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon, 4-0. This was the Red Foxes 11th trip to the tournament under head coach Tim Smith after they won their 11th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship this season.
“I'm really pleased with the way our guys competed on the court and acted both on and off the court,” said Smith. “We won 30 games which is an excellent accomplishment against the ninth ranked team in the country. Kudos to Reznek for playing a very tight 7-5 first set. Our first doubles team of Rossi and Reznek, lost in a tight doubles match, and to Klassen and Nagelstad who competed very strongly at second doubles.”
The Longhorns picked up the doubles point after winning the first and third doubles matches. Seniors Lorenzo Rossi (Lugano, Switzerland) and Will Reznek (Toronto, Canada) fell to Soren Hess-Olesen and Lloyd Glasspool, 8-5. Junior Matteo Giudici (Parma, Italy) and freshman Dylan Fletcher (Stow, Mass.) were topped by David Holiner and Jacoby Lewis, 8-3. The second doubles match between senior Dalen Klassen (St. Louis, Mo.) and sophomore Trym Nagelstad (Oslo, Norway) was stopped with the Red Foxes trailing Adrien Berkowicz and George Goldhoff, 5-2.
In singles play, fifth, first, and fourth matches finished first to earn Texas its 4-0 victory. At fifth singles, sophomore Fredrik Bjerke (Oslo, Norway) dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision to Nick Naumann. Rossi fell to No. 16 Hess-Olesen in first singles, 6-1, 6-2. Junior Joseph Dube (Livonia, Mich.), the MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, fell to 102nd ranked George Goldhoff, 6-1, 6-3.
The rest of the singles matches were unfinished. Klassen was trailing No. 40 Glasspool at second singles, 6-0, 4-3. Berkowicz was leading Reznek at third singles, 7-5, 4-1. Giudici was behind Clement Horns at sixth singles, 6-1, 4-1.
Marist finished the season 15-5 overall and a perfect 7-0 in conference play, alongside its 11th MAAC Championship title and fifth straight undefeated season in MAAC play.
