POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Having earned the final spot in the 2021 MAAC Championships with two wins in three days, Marist Men's Tennis hopes to springboard the momentum into a run at the conference tournament with a semifinal battle against 1-seed Monmouth on Saturday, April 24th at 10 a.m. from the Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor, NJ.
 
Marist seeks its 13th MAAC Championship in program history, which would rank second among men's varsity programs in the athletic department and most among men's teams that remain active in the conference. The Red Foxes have ranked in the MAAC's top-four since joining the conference in 1997.
 

the field

• No. 1 seed – Monmouth
• No. 2 seed – Fairfield
• No. 3 seed – Quinnipiac
• No. 4 seed – Marist

 

the road to maacs

• Due to the MAAC's shift to a spring-only and a precautionary campus-wide pause this semester, the Red Foxes did not begin their season until last Friday, April 16th.
• As a result, Marist only played two of their six scheduled matches.
• However, the Red Foxes opened with a 4-3 victory at Niagara, winning the first, third, fourth, and fifth singles.
• In the year's only home match, Marist outlasted Quinnipiac 4-3 with the same output of singles victories.
• This year's regular season standings were based on total wins. Marist and Siena tied with two wins, but did not face one another in the regular season.
• Marist won the tiebreaker because of its triumph over the Bobcats, who beat the Saints. Siena did not have a win this season over an opponent that had a better record than Quinnipiac, securing Marist's spot.

 

the lineups

• Seniors Nestor Giribet Lopez and Piotr Sowinski won both of their singles matches this year, both in straight sets. Giribet Lopez operated out of the fourth flight, while Sowinski was installed in the fifth position.
• Newcomers Dylan Friedman and Gabriel Castillo thrived with two victories in first and third singles, respectively. The pair notched their first doubles win together against the Purple Eagles in the top flight.
• Senior captain John Oxner and junior Augusto Gonzalez Bonorino have competed in the second and sixth singles, respectively.
• Oxner and Giribet Lopez have paired up in second doubles, while Sowinski and junior Jack Sequerth comprise third doubles.

 

the opponent

• Monmouth went 12-2 in the regular season, maintaining a perfect 5-0 record.
• Dating back to March 6th, the Hawks have won 10 straight, only dropping nine losses in their results.
• Against conference foes, Monmouth has dropped a mere four singles matches.
• Below is the Hawks' winningest student-athletes in their respective flights:
  • No. 1 doubles: Max Benaim/Sergio Martinez (8-3)
  • No. 2 doubles: Victor Castro/Lucca Silva (6-1)
  • No. 3 doubles: Will Cooke Wharton/Charles Gourtzounian (6-1)
  • No. 1 singles: Cooke Wharton (8-3)
  • No. 2 singles: Benaim (7-4)
  • No. 3 singles: Silva and Charlie Penman (4-1 each)
  • No. 4 singles: Castro (9-2)
  • No. 5 singles: Martinez (9-2)
  • No. 6 singles: Gabriel Busato (10-1)

 

series history

• Marist and Monmouth have enjoyed a fierce rivalry since the Hawks entered the MAAC in the 2013-14 season.
• All-time, the series favors Monmouth 7-5. The Hawks have won six straight.
• The two squads have met in the MAAC Championships four times: 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018. All four meetings came in the championship final; the Red Foxes won the MAAC title over the Hawks in 2014 and 2015, while Monmouth was victorious in 2017 and 2018.
• Marist and Monmouth did not face one another in the past two regular seasons. Their last duel took place on April 17th, 2019.

 

with a win...

• The Red Foxes would advance and face the winner of Fairfield and Quinnipiac in the championship final on Sunday, April 25th at 10 a.m. from the Mercer County Tennis Center.