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West Windsor, NJ -- The song remained the same at the 2019 NEC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ.

With rain forcing the finals indoors for the first time since 2012, the Bryant men and LIU Brooklyn women played at elite levels, and earned spots in the NEC recordbook for their efforts. With a 4-0 win over second-seeded Wagner, the Bulldogs won their sixth straight title, matching the longest championship streak in league history. The Blackbirds became just the fourth team in conference annals to three-peat, courtesy of a 4-0 conquest of second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson.

The championship event, for the 19th straight year, was contested at the award winning Mercer facility.

LIU Brooklyn joined Mount St. Mary’s (1989-95), UMBC (1998-03), Quinnipiac (2004-08) and Fairleigh Dickinson (2012-14) as the only women’s tennis programs to win three or more consecutive conference crowns. 
 
Despite what the final score suggests, the Blackbirds road to the title was anything but easy. In doubles, LIU’s #1 team of Anna Grigoryan (Moscow, Russia/School 1043) and Ana Leonte (Basel, Switzerland/Gymnasium Kirschgarten) won four straight games after falling behind 3-2, to pull out a 6-3 win. At third doubles, Malin Leysen (Leuven, Belgium/Koninklijk Atheneum) and Jennifer Gogova (London, England/Ashmole Academy) jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but had to fight off a ferocious FDU rally to win the set, and clinch the doubles point, 6-4.
 
In singles, Grigoryan, the two-time reigning NEC Player of the Year, fell behind out of the gate in the first set of her first singles match, 3-0. Grigoryan responded by winning 12 out of the next 14 games to put the Blackbirds up 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. Leonte completed a similar comeback at fifth singles for LIU. After falling behind 5-0 in the first set, Leonte won 13 out of the next 15 games for a 7-5, 6-2 win. Moments later, LIU senior Clemence Krug (Reims, France/Lycée Jean Jaurès) would clinch the title for the Blackbirds with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at sixth singles.
 
After going 3-0 in her matches and surrendering just six games on the weekend, Krug was named the 2019 NEC Women’s Tennis Championship Most Valuable Player. She was joined on the All-Tournament team by Grigoryan and Leonte. FDU senior Marta Ruszczynska (Warsaw, Pol./XLIV Liceum Ogólnoksztalcace Antoniego Dobiszewskiego) and junior Patricia Eftenoiu (Bucharest, Romania/Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar) earned All-Tournament honors, as did Sacred Heart senior Olivia Podsiebierski (Linden, NJ/Linden) and Bryant freshman Ada Boru (Boca Raton, FL/Boca Prep International School).
 
LIU Brooklyn, which won its fifth overall NEC crown (2009, 2010 2017, 2018, 2019), became just the ninth team to sweep all three of its tournament matches en-route to the title. Heading into NCAA Tournament play, the Blackbirds have won nine straight matches.

Bryant continued its march toward NEC immortality with its sixth title in just seven years as a member of the conference, following a 4-0 victory over Wagner. Only FDU (12) and Monmouth (9) have won more. The Bulldogs are the lone institution to win at least five straight titles in the team scoring format era that began in 1999. Monmouth won six in a row from 1990-95 when the title was determined by individual scoring.

After the Bulldogs took the doubles point, Bryant junior Jorge Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico/Cupeyville School) first won at fifth singles, 6-2, 6-2. Redshirt senior and Smithfield, RI native, Matt Kuhar (Smithfield, RI/Smithfield, completed his final match at the NEC Tennis Championships with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at first singles to pull the Bulldogs to within one point of the championship. With his win, Kuhar, the reigning two-time NEC Player of the Year, improved to 24-7 on the season. Finally, for the second straight year, the clinching honors fell to sophomore Wilson Dong (Bradenton, FL/IMG Academy), who posted a 6-4, 6-2 victory at second singles to set off the celebration. 

Dong, who won both of his singles matches this weekend by identical 6-4, 6-2 scores, was named the NEC Tournament MVP. Dong was joined on the All-Tournament team by Kuhar and Ortiz-Garcia, each landing on the All-Tournament team for Bryant for the second straight year. Wagner, which reached the NEC championship match for a second straight season, was represented on the All-Tournament team by junior Hans Ohrner (Margate, FL/Coral Springs Christian Academy) and senior Ilya Kneppelhout (Woubrugge, Netherlands/Scala College Sec School). Also named to the team were Mount St. Mary’s sophomore Jackson Wood (Woodstock, GA/Woodstock) and Fairleigh Dickinson junior Ivan Solans Diaz (Alpicat, Spain/Institut Manuel de Montsuar).

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


2019 Northeast Conference Tennis Championships
at Mercer County Tennis Center
West Windsor, NJ

Thursday, April 18

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

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

* #1 Bryant and #2 Wagner received byes

Friday, April 19

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

Men’s Semifinal Matches
#1 Bryant def. #5 Mount St. Mary's, 4-0
#2 Wagner def. #3 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-2

Saturday, April 20

Women’s Championship Match
#1 LIU Brooklyn def. #2 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-0

Men’s Championship Match
#1 Bryant def. #2 Wagner, 4-0