WEST WINDSOR, New Jersey – The Marist men's tennis team is moving on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game after a 5-1 semifinal win over second-seeded Quinnipiac on Saturday morning.

"A very exciting match and I thought we had a good game plan especially in the doubles," said head coach Tim Smith. "We were much more aggressive on our shots and went for balls as opposed to hoping for mistakes."

The Red Foxes and Bobcats would split the first two doubles matches in the tightly contested doubles point. Quinnipiac's Rozenstein and Cachapero would defeat Jan Dernic and Paulo Siracusa, 6-4, from the first position but Marist would answer with a 6-3 win from Javier Restrepo and Christoper Gladden at the third position.

The pivotal first point would come down to the second position and Rudolf Kurz and Gianlucca Massa would answer the call for Marist. Kurz and Massa pulled out the 6-4 win over Quinnipiac's Stern and Moore to take a 1-0 overall match lead.

Marist would carry the momentum over into singles play, winning the first set in all but one match. Three matches would eventually go three sets but only two would finish.

Quinnipiac would even the match at 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-4 win at fourth singles but it would be the last point the Bobcats would get. Massa quickly answered back with a 6-3, 6-4, straight set victory of his own over Quinnipiac's Alper to put Marist back ahead.

Restrepo would be the second singles match winner for the Red Foxes as he defeated the Bobcats' Rozenstein, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to give the Red Foxes a 3-1 lead.

Kurz would then close out the match for Marist with a three-set, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 win over Zaretsky to clinch the match. Marist would officially finish with a 5-1 win as Gladden's match would finish simultaneously with a 7-5, 6-2 win in the Red Foxes favor.

"It's always rewarding when you lose to a team in the regular season and then are able to find a way to beat them come tournament time," Smith said. "Let's hope this momentum carries on into our next match tomorrow."

UP NEXT
Marist moves on to the MAAC Championship game against the defending and regular season conference champions, Monmouth, on Sunday, April 29^th at 10 a.m. in West Windsor, New Jersey. A win would earn men's tennis its 13^th overall MAAC Championship and first since 2015.