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West Windsor, NJ -- Championship Saturday had it all, and when the dust cleared, we had a three-peat and a first-time champion crowned at the 2014 NEC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships.  The top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson women defeated #2 LIU Brooklyn, 4-0, for its third straight conference title, while the #1-seeded Bryant men outlasted #2 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-3, in an epic match that gave the Bulldogs an NEC championship in just its second year of postseason eligibility and denied the Knights their own chance at a three-peat.  The tournament, for the 14th straight year, was contested at the Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor, New Jersey.
 
The drama quotient was high in a rematch of the 2013 men’s final as FDU raced out to a 3-1 lead and appeared in control of two other matches before Bryant embarked on a memorable rally.  The Knights took the doubles point, then received a 6-2, 6-0 win from freshman Diego Garnel (Portugal) at #6 singles to take a 2-0 advantage.  Bryant junior Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua/American Nicaraguan School) briefly sliced the lead in half with a 6-3, 7-5 victory at the #4 flight, but FDU increased the edge to 3-1 soon thereafter.  Two-time NEC Player of the Year Arvis Berzins’ (Adazi, Latvia/Riga Centre Language School) posted a 7-5, 6-2 triumph at the #1 spot over the Bulldogs’ Dana Parziale (Pinehurst, NC/Pinecrest) in a battle of two of the best players in recent conference vintage.
 
With their back against the wall, the Bulldogs responded to the challenge.  Freshman Oliver Welsh (San Diego, CA/Laurel Springs) fought back from a set down to win, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4, at the #3 flight.  Just moments later Bryant knotted things up at 3-3 when sophomore Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, CA/Granite Bay) completed his own rally from a one-set deficit with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory at the #5 position.
 
Alll eyes were then trained on the #2 match between Bryant junior Zachary Morris (Garden City, NY/Garden City) and FDU freshman Jacob Whalley (Wirral, England).  Morris took the first set by a 6-4 margin and had three championship points up 5-4 in the second set, but Whalley would not go down easy.  The Wirral, England native extended the set to a tiebreaker and sent the FDU faithful into a frenzy with a 7-6 (5) victory.  With the entire season coming down to one set, it was Morris who took firm control, lifting the Bulldogs and head coach Ron Gendron to their first crown with a resounding 6-1 win.
 
The FDU women to their game to another level in winning the program’s fifth NEC championship.  The Knights claimed the doubles point and made it 2-0 when junior Mariya Krachok (Kiev, Ukraine) rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win at the #5 flight.  FDU then built a commanding 3-0 lead after freshman Shreya Pasricha (India) posted a 6-1, 6-3 triumph in #2 flight play.  The Knights clinched the championship at #4 singles with sophomore Giesla Castany’s (Barcelona, Spain) 6-3, 6-2 victory.
 
The Knights, under second year coach Jonathan Buchman, became just the fourth team in NEC history to win three straight titles, joining Mount St. Mary’s (1989-95), UMBC (1998-03) and Quinnipiac (2004-08).
 
The FDU women and Bryant men will now go on to represent the NEC in the upcoming NCAA Championships in mid May.