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West Windsor, NJ -- The top seeds lived up to the billing at the 2017 NEC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships in West Windsor, NJ.

With the sun out in full force on a gorgeous spring day, the Bryant men and LIU Brooklyn women would not be denied, each leaving Mercer County Park with a new piece of hardware for their respective trophy cases. The Bulldogs won their fourth straight title, beating second-seeded Saint Francis U, 4-1, while the Blackbirds won their first championship since 2010 with a 4-0 win over third-seeed Fairleigh Dickinson. The championship event, for the 17th straight year, was contested in West Windsor, New Jersey.

LIU Brooklyn capped a dominating run through the three-day event as the Blackbirds did not surrender a single point in the tournament. After taking the doubles point against the defending NEC champions to kick off the final, LIU got on board in singles play when freshman Sasha Bollweg (Melbourne, Australia/Melbourne Girls College) posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory at the #2 flight. Sophomore Malin Leysen (Leuven, Belgium/Koninklijk Atheneum) then put the Blackbirds within one point of victory with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph in a #4 flight match. With FDU up a set in three other matches, all eyes turned toward the stadium court and a battle between two of the NEC’s best in FDU’s Shreya Pasricha (New Delhi, India/Amity International School) and LIU’s Anna Grigoryan (Moscow, Russia). Pasricha had won a third-set supertiebreaker over Grigoryan when the two met nine days ago, but the Moscow native evened the score this morning with a 7-5, 6-2 win at the #1 spot to clinch the title for the Blackbirds.

LIU, which won its third NEC crown (2009, 2010 and 2017), became just the eighth team to sweep all three of their tournament matches en-route to the title. Heading into NCAA Tournament play, the Blackbirds have won eight straight matches.

Bryant became the fourth program in league history to win four straight NEC crowns, but it didn’t come easy against a rising SFU team, who advanced to their second straight final, both against the Bulldogs. Bryant took a 1-0 lead into singles play and made it 2-0 when the Bullddogs’ franchise player, redshirt sophomore Matt Kuhar (Smithfield, RI/Smithfield), picked up a 6-3, 6-0 victory in #1 flight action. Bryant built the lead to 3-0 with Mike Plutt’s (Weston, FL/Cypress Bay) 7-5, 6-3 win at the #5 slot. The Red Flash would not go down easy as freshman Franz Luna (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Laurel Springs) sliced the Bryant lead to 3-1 with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win in a #2 flight match. But it was another freshman, Bryant’s Guido Argentini (Boca Raton, FL/Magallan Tennis Academy), who set off another raucous Bulldog celebration with his title-clinching 6-4, 6-4 triumph at the #4 spot.

Bryant seniors Corey DiPaola (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln), Joe Sterrey (Newnan, GA/The Heritage School), John Templeman (Midland, MI/Herbert Henry Dow) and Oliver Welsh (San Diego, CA/Laurel Springs) will each graduate as four-time NEC champions.

The Bryant men and LIU Brooklyn women will now go on to represent the NEC in the upcoming NCAA Championships in mid-May.


2017 Northeast Conference Tennis Championships
at Mercer County Tennis Center
West Windsor, NJ

Friday, April 21

Womn’s Quarterfinals
#1 LIU Brooklyn def. 8 St. Francis Brooklyn, 4-0
#2 Bryant def. #7 Mount St. Mary's, 4-1
#4 Saint Francis U def. #5 Sacred Heart, 4-2
#3 Fairleigh Dickinson def. #6 Wagner, 4-0

Men’s Quarterfinals*
#2 Saint Francis U def. #7 St. Francis Brooklyn, 4-0
#3 Wagner def. #6 Sacred Heart, 4-0
#4 Fairleigh Dickinson def. #5 Mount St. Mary's, 4-1

* #1 Bryant receives bye

Saturday, April 22

Women’s Semifinal Matches
#1 LIU Brooklyn def. #4 Saint Francis U, 4-0
#3 Fairleigh Dickinson def. #2 Bryant, 4-3

Men’s Semifinal Matches
#1 Bryant def. #4 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-2
#2 Saint Francis U def. #3 Wagner, 4-0

Sunday, April 23

Women’s Championship Match
#1 LIU Brooklyn def. #3 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-0

Men’s Championship Match
#1 Bryant def. #2 Saint Francis U, 4-1