Top-seeded men's tennis gears up to repeat as NEC Champs

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. – For the third-straight year, the Bryant University men's tennis team will enter the Northeast Conference Championships as the number-one overall seed, and this season it will be as the defending champions.

The Bulldogs, who won their first-ever NEC Title one year ago, will yet again be the top dogs at the 2015 NEC Championships, earning a first-round bye straight to the semifinal round on Saturday. Bryant will play the winner of the quarterfinal match between #4 Mount St. Mary's vs. #5 Wagner on Friday.

"We are really looking forward to this weekend," said reigning two-time NEC Coach of the Year Ron Gendron. "It seems that the NEC has a lot of parity this season with teams like Wagner, Mount St. Mary's, Saint Francis U., Fairleigh Dickinson, and Sacred Heart all much improved."

Leading the charge for the Black and Gold this weekend will be freshman Matt Kuhar (Smithfield, R.I.) who has burst onto the NEC tennis scene in his first season in Smithfield. Kuhar, the two-time NEC Player and three-time NEC Rookie of the Week, enters weekend action with an 18-8 overall singles mark, tied for the third-most wins in the league. Thus far this season, the freshman is an impressive 9-5 at No. 1 singles and a perfect 3-0 against NEC opponents.

Not to be outdone, Zachary Morris (Garden City, N.Y.) has put together a tremendous senior campaign with an impressive 20-8 singles mark, second best in the conference. A steady mainstay in Bryant tennis over the past four seasons, Morris has once again cemented himself as a force in the No. 2 spot for the Bulldogs, going 8-6 overall and 3-0 against NEC competition.

Solidifying a deep Bryant lineup will be freshman Luke Lorenz (Colorado Springs, Colo.), who has come on strong as of late as a true threat in the middle of the rotation, as well as sophomore Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.), junior Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, Calif.), senior Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua) and freshmen Jorge Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) and Joshua Kliger (Newport Beach, Calif.).

"First and foremost however," added Gendron. "We are looking forward to the challenge of repeating as NEC Champs."

The Bulldogs will look to continue their quest for a repeat on Saturday (not before 11:30 a.m.) where they await the winner of #4 Mount St. Mary's vs. #5 Wagner (Friday – Not before 2 p.m.).