Somerset, NJ – Five members of the Wagner men's tennis team earned 2018 All-Northeast Conference (NEC) honors, as the league office announced on Wednesday.
The Seahawks, who reached the conference title match for the first time in program history, were represented by sophomore
Dylan Walters, who was named All-NEC First Team in singles while the junior pairing of
Anatoliy Lashkul and
Dale Sandy were named to the First Team doubles squad.
Lashkul and senior
Charlton Boyd earned spots on the All-NEC Second-Team singles list, while Walters and his doubles partner, junior
Eric Poland, were also tabbed to the Second Team.
This marks the third straight season that at least one member of the Wagner men's tennis program garnered league honors.
Walters, who was named to the NEC All-Rookie team a season ago, was one of seven players to record double-digit wins in 2017-18, as the Johannesburg, South Africa native finished with 16 singles wins this season. In dual matches, he recorded ten singles wins, with six of those victories coming out of the No. 1 position. In the NEC semifinals, against Saint Francis U, Walters defeated fellow First-Teamer, Franz Luna, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Lashkul and Sandy, meanwhile, combined to win 13 matches in doubles play, while recording eight wins out of the No. 1 position. In the conference semifinals, Lashkul and Sandy defeated SFU's Alec Dylan Foo-Kune and Jan Vit Suntar, 6-2, at No. 1 to help the Seahawks move on to the championship round. This third-year Seahawk tandem opened the season with five straight wins in tournament play.
Boyd concludes one of the most prolific careers on Grymes Hill in recent memory. Now a two-time All-NEC Second-Teamer, the Shreveport, LA native racked up a record of 75-24 over his four-year Seahawk career, with the 75 singles victories setting a program record. This year, he became the first-ever Wagner men's tennis player to post 20 or more victories as he concluded his senior campaign with a 27-3 overall record.
Additionally, Boyd holds three of the top five single-season win totals, as he recorded 18 wins back in 2014-15 and 16 in 2015-16. As a doubles player, Boyd set the bar high as well, racking up 65 doubles victories over his tenure. Boyd accumulated 51 of his 75 wins out of the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively, going 51-15 in those three spots. This season, Boyd became just the second Seahawk to be ranked by the Oracle/International Tennis Association (ITA) back on November 17, as he was the No. 104-ranked tennis player in the country out of 125 Division I tennis players.
Lashkul netted 14 single wins this season for the Green & White, half of them coming out of the No. 3 Flight position. The Kiev, Ukraine native had a season-high four-match win streak. With a trip to the NEC title match against Bryant on the line, Lashkul outlasted Foo-Kune in the first set, 7-6 (7-4). Foo-Kune edged out the third-year Seahawk, 6-4, in the second set, which set up the third and final set with a trip to the finals in reach. After a hard-fought match, it was Lashkul that sealed the win for Wagner, 6-3, punching the Seahawks' first-ever trip to the NEC Championship match.
Walters and Poland had a fantastic season in doubles competition, finished the campaign with a 17-6 overall record while going 14-3 in dual matches and a perfect 6-0 in conference tilts, all while competing out of the No. 2 Flight spot. The 17 wins matched the win total from Lashkul and Sandy a season ago, as they were named to the Second Team in 2017.
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