Pictured Above: (Left to Right): Sophomore Dylan Walters, juniors Anatoliy Lashkul and Ilya Kneppelhout (Credit: Dave Saffran)
2018 Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship Headquarters
West Windsor, NJ – For the fourth consecutive season, the Wagner men's tennis team, the No. 2 seed in this season's Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship, have advanced to the semifinals as they will take on the No. 3 seeded, Saint Francis U Red Flash on Saturday morning at the Mercer County Tennis Center.
The second semifinal of the day features the top-seed, Bryant University Bulldogs, against the No. 4 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights.
All-Time Series:
- The Seahawks and the Red Flash are meeting for the 12th time since 2004 with Saint Francis U holding a 10-1 edge in the head-to-head series.
- Wagner's lone victory over SFU came back on April 1, as the Seahawks edged the Red Flash, 4-3, on Staten Island for the Seahawks' second conference win of the season.
- The Green & White sealed the match with back-to-back wins at No. 5 & No. 6 play, respectively as Kneppelhout was victorious at No. 5 with a 6-3; 7-6 (7-3) win over Samuel Miller while senior Charlton Boyd became the first Seahawk (since stats have been kept by the league in 2004) to record 20 wins in a single-season after Jan Vit Suntar, 6-3; 2-6; 6-0 at No. 6 play.
How We Got Here:
For Wagner:
- The No. 2 seeded Wagner men's tennis team earned a 4-2 victory over the No. 7 seed, St. Francis Brooklyn, in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 Northeast Conference (NEC) Championships on Friday morning held at the Mercer County Tennis Center.
- The Green & White opened the morning session securing the doubles points, in jumping out to a 1-0 advantage. Juniors Anatoliy Lashkul and Dale Sandy got past Alejandro Ridruejo and Francisco Blanco, 6-2 at Flight No. 1. Sophomore Dylan Walters and junior Eric Poland blanked Javier Navarro/Pablo Blasco-Torres, 6-0, at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point for the Seahawks.
- The Terriers got on the board at No. 1 singles as Ridruejo outlasted Walters, 7-6 (8-6), tying the match at 1-1. Blanco put St. Francis Brooklyn ahead by one, after defeating sophomore Hans Ohrner, 6-3; 6-3 at No. 3 as SFBK led 2-1.
- Sandy earned a 6-0; 6-1 victory at No. 6 in knotting the match at 2-2. Senior Charlton Boyd was bested Stefan Gmijovic, 6-0; 6-1, as Wagner went ahead 3-2. The No. 2 match between Lashkul and Javier Navarro went unfinished at 4-6, 6-4, 1-3 as the match would be decided at No. 4.
- Poland and Guillermo Artiz were scheduled to compete in this winner-take-all contest. Artiz took the first set, 6-4, before the Fort Meyers, FL native rallied back, with a 6-2 winner in the second set. The veteran Seahawk closed out the match with a 6-2 win.
For Saint Francis U:
- The Red Flash earned a 4-1 win over Sacred Heart to advance Saturday's semifinal match with the Seahawks.
- SFU dropped the doubles point but won four singles matches to clinch the victory.
- Alec Dylan Foo-Kune leads the Red Flash with 17 singles victories this season while Franz Luna has racked up 14 wins. Sebastian Pinos added 13 single victories this season.
- In doubles action, Luna and Pinos lead SFU with 15 triumphs this season.
Up Next:
- The winner of the Wagner/Saint Francis U matchup will square off on Sunday against either Bryant or Fairleigh Dickinson.
- Should Wagner win, it will mark the first-time in program history that the Seahawks have reached the NEC Championship match.
- Should Saint Francis U advance, they will be competing for the conference title for the third straight season.
