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Somerset, NJ -- It has been both a prolific and historic two-year stretch for Fairleigh Dickinson sophomore
Arvis Berzins (Adazi, Latvia/Riga Centre Language School), who repeated as Northeast Conference (NEC) Men’s Tennis Player of the Year for the conference champion Knights in a vote of league head coaches. Joining Berzins in the major award winner category were Bryant freshman
Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, CA/Granite Bay), the 2013 NEC Rookie of the Year, and his coach Ron Gendron, who was named NEC Coach of the Year.
After becoming just the second player in conference history to earn dual honors as NEC Player and Rookie of the Year in his freshman season, Berzins earned another spot in the recordbook as the fourth player in league annals to post back-to-back NEC Player of the Year campaigns. Ironically, two of the other three players to accomplish the feat were also FDU student-athletes: Daniel Wynne (2005, 2006) and Philip Stevens (2007, 2008). Likewise, FDU now sports seven of the ten NEC Player of the Year winners since the award was instituted back in the 2004 season. Berzins has been razor sharp as of late for the Knights, who head into NCAA Tournament play later this month against Virginia. The Adazi, Latvia product has won nine of his last 11 matches, including a pair of victories in the NEC Tournament last month. His three-set win over Bryant’s Zach Morris kept FDU alive in the NEC final against the Bulldogs, a match the Knights would go on to win, 4-3, and repeat as league champion. For the second straight year, Berzins ended his season a perfect 7-0 versus NEC competition. His record stands at 11-4 in #1 singles and 14-6 overall. The March NEC Player of the Month has upped his career mark to 32-18 in two years in an FDU uniform.
Vogt’s impact on the Bryant program was immediate as the California native posted a 7-3 record in fall tournament play to launch his collegiate career. He was named the NEC Player and Rookie of the Month for October, due in part to his “B” flight championship at the Quinnipiac Invitational. Vogt would go on to be named NEC Rookie of the Week twice in March and ended his freshman year with 16 wins, second on the Bulldogs. Playing primarily out of the #2 flight, Vogt went 5-3 in NEC matches, including two straight set wins in the NEC Tournament. He was one of two freshman to earn All-NEC honors with his selection to the second team.
Having fielded quality teams during Bryant’s five year NCAA reclassification to Division I, Gendron was itching for a chance to compete in the NEC Tournament. When the opportunity finally arrived last month, the Bulldogs did not disappoint, coming within a whisker of capturing the conference title. The 4-3 title match loss to FDU notwithstanding, Gendron and his troops enjoyed a impressive season, finishing 8-1 within the conference and 13-10 overall facing a challenging non-league slate. At year’s end, the Bulldogs landed four players on All-NEC singles teams and all three doubles tandems achieved all-star status.
FDU is represented on the All-NEC first team by Berzins, senior
Ibrahim Shams (Cairo, Egypt/Manor House) (#2) and freshman
Markis Sjoberg (Tyreso, Sweden/Varmdo Gymnasium) (#6). Bryant holds the #3 and #4 singles spots with junior
Dana Parziale (Pinehurst, NC/Pinecrest) and sophomore
Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua/American Nicaraguan School). Quinnipiac senior
Garrett Lane (Reading, MA/Pingree School) rounds out the first team at #5 singles.
Shams, along with Berzins, is a back-to-back first team All-NEC award winner. The senior won seven of his eight NEC matches, and posted a 12-8 overall record and 10-6 mark at #2 singles. He won three NEC Tournament matches, highlighted by a 6-1, 6-1 win against Bryant in the championship final. Shams ended his career with a combined 15-3 record in league matches. He enters the NCAA Tournament having won five of his last six contests.
For Parziale, it marks his third All-NEC honor in as many seasons, but the first time he has landed on the first team. His 21 wins this year rank him second in the conference and his .727 win percentage at #3 singles is the top mark on the circuit. Parziale ended the year with a flourish winning his last eight matches and 13 of his last 14 outings. One of those wins came in the NEC title match, a 6-3, 6-2 victory over FDU’s Yuri Gricheno. Parziale also went 6-0 in NEC play to raise his three-year record to 14-2 against conference competitors. The two-time NEC Player of the Week will head into his senior season with a 59-28 career record. The 59 wins rank him first among 2013-14 returnees.
Arguello earned the promotion from second to first team All-NEC performer following a solid sophomore season. A fierce competitor, Arguello went undefeated in NEC play (7-0) to run his two-year record to 10-1 against conference players. He came through for the Bulldogs with a straight set win against FDU in the NEC title tilt, his second victory of the tourney. Arguello posted a 15-12 overall slate and went 7-5 in #4 singles for the 2012-13 season.
Lane has been a steady and perhaps underrated performer in his four years at Quinnipiac. Manning the #5 flight for the Bobcats, he rang up a team-best 18 wins and went a perfect 6-0 in conference competition. Lane won his last six matches of the year, the last of which was a three-set win against FDU in the NEC semifinals. He closed out his career with a 46-29 singles record and 17-6 mark against the NEC.
Sjoberg clinched his spot on the All-NEC first team with an NEC Tournament to remember. In the championship final against Bryant, all eyes were on his #6 flight match against Joshua Rubenstein with the team score tied at three apiece. Sjoberg dropped the first set, 6-2, but came back with decisive 6-3 and 6-2 wins in the second and third sets to send the Knights to their second straight conference crown. He enters the postseason with an 8-8 record and went 5-2 over the course of FDU’s league slate.
Bryant earned two of the three spots on the All-NEC doubles first team, but it was the FDU combination of
Arvis Berzins (Adazi, Latvia/Riga Centre Language School) and
Ibrahim Shams (Cairo, Egypt/Manor House) who were recognized at the #1 spot. Bryant’s
Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua/American Nicaraguan School) and
Vidith Huot (Providence, RI/Classical) were the #2 pairing, while the Bulldog tandem of
Munir Serin (Mersin, Turkey) and
Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, CA/Granite Bay) manned the #3 spot.
Berzins and Shams were second team all-stars in 2011-12, but moved up following a stellar season at the #1 flight. The duo produced three wins at the NEC Tournament to lift their conference record to 7-1 and finished a league-best 12-3 in #1 doubles play. In two years, Berzins and Shams have produced a 28-13 doubles mark.
Arguello earned first team doubles honors for the second year running, this time with Huot. The #2 flight team did not drop an NEC match, going 5-0, capped off by a pair of NEC Tournament wins. On the year, Arguello and Huot amassed a 10-5 record.
Serin and Vogt proved to be a formidable all freshman team at #3 doubles for Bryant, rolling through NEC competition to the tune of a 6-1 record and going 9-4 overall. The duo won nine straight matches to end the spring season, two of which came in the NEC Tournament.
Three of the All-NEC second team singles spots went to FDU players, all seniors who have previously earned All-Conference recognition in some form.
Yuri Gricheno (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Amorim) was chosen at the #3 flight,
Mark Hemy (Suffolk, England/Ipswich School) at the #4 position and
Peter Skvarka (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia/Gymnazium J.G. Tajovskeho) at the #5 spot. Bryant sophomore
Zachary Morris (Garden City, NY/Garden City) was the #1 flight honoree, joining teammate
Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, CA/Granite Bay), the NEC Rookie of the Year and #2 singles pick. Mount St. Mary’s senior
Taylor Place (Snellville, GA/St. Pius X) took home #6 flight plaudits.
Morris lifted his game as a sophomore, finishing the year with 11 wins and a 4-2 NEC record. He came the closest of any conference player to knocking off FDU’s Arvis Berzins, the NEC Player of the Year. The two engaged in an epic #1 singles battle in the NEC title match with Morris winning 6-4 in the first set before Berzins rallied to win the next two by identical 6-4 scores. Morris closed out the year with eight wins in his last ten matches, including a three-set win over highly touted Michael Riechmann of Brown. He was a two-time NEC Player of the Week this past spring.
A two-time first team All-NEC performer, Gricheno collected his third all-star honor for the Knights. The senior won four of his seven league matches and picked up eight overall victories on the year competing at the #3 flight. In four years, Gricheno has accumulated 42 singles victories.
Hemy dropped just one NEC match this past season, and that was to Bryant’s Ernesto Arguello, a first team selection. He finished 4-1 in the conference and won eight matches in total for FDU manning the #4 spot. His career totals include 41 singles wins and a 10-3 record against NEC foes.
Skvarka, an All-NEC first teamer in 2012, posted his fourth straight winning NEC campaign this past season for FDU. Competing at the #5 position, he went 6-1 against conference brethren with the most notable victory coming in straight sets (6-2, 6-1) in the NEC final against Bryant. With an overall mark of 10-6, he lifted his career victory total to 49 heading into FDU’s NCAA match with Virginia. Over his four years, he posted a 16-5 record in NEC play.
With an 18-6 record, Place leads the NEC in winning percentage this season, coming out on top in 75 percent of his matches for the Mount. He won 15 of his 17 outings at the #6 flight and went a perfect 5-0 versus NEC competition. Down the stretch he won 12 of his last 13 contests, including a first round NEC Tournament win. Place wrapped his Mount career with 51 singles victories.
Adding to their singles honors, Bryant’s
Zachary Morris (Garden City, NY/Garden City) and
Dana Parziale (Pinehurst, NC/Pinecrest) also claimed the #1 spot on the All-NEC doubles second team. They were joined by the FDU #2 duo of
Mark Hemy (Suffolk, England/Ipswich School) and
Peter Skvarka (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia/Gymnazium J.G. Tajovskeho), and the Quinnipiac #3 tandem of
Eric Ambrosio (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) and
Chris Nelson (Scituate, MA/Scituate).
After victories in the NEC quarterfinals and semifinals, Morris and Parziale seemed on their way to a perfect NEC season before dropping an 8-7 heartbreaker against FDU in the tourney final. The duo finished 6-1 in their league matches and were 11-3 overall in #1 doubles play.
First team All-NEC award recipients a year ago at #3 doubles, Hemy and Skvarka this time claimed all-star recognition at the #2 flight. The experienced pairing finished an impressive 6-1 in league bouts and have posted a 13-1 NEC record in two years as a team. Hemy and Skvarka were 9-5 overall this past season. Skvarka was also a second team All-NEC doubles selection in 2010 when he teamed with Andrew Denny.
Ambrosio and Nelson didn’t team for very long in 2012-13, but when they did, they were perfect. The duo won all seven of their #3 flight matches, six of which came against NEC teams. They also picked up a pair of NEC Tournament victories.
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 32nd year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 12 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#23), Baltimore (#27), and Hartford/New Haven (#30). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 23 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic or play-in access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary’s, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (@NECsports).