Bulldogs in search of sixth-straight NEC title

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's tennis team heads to West Windsor, New Jersey, this weekend in search of its sixth-straight Northeast Conference Championship.

Bryant, the top seed for the seventh-straight year, has a bye in the quarterfinal round and will face the winner of Sacred Heart and Mount St. Mary's.

The Bulldogs have put together one of their best regular seasons in DI program history and enter the week with 18 victories. Bryant went 5-0 against NEC opponents this season and enters the tournament having won each of its three.

Bryant's challenging schedule included a clean sweep of Patriot League foes and victories over Xavier, Wright St., NJIT and Binghamton.

The Black and Gold are once again led by redshirt senior Matt Kuhar (Smithfield, R.I.), one of the most dominating players in NEC history. He is 23-7 overall and 16-3 at the No. 1 spot this season, and has been nationally ranked for a majority of the year. Kuhar is the two-time NEC Player of the Year and enters the tournament with 88 career singles victories.

Bryant's lineup will also include sophomore Wilson Dong (Bradenton, Fla.), senior Artur Jakubowski (Dallas, Texas), junior Guido Argentini (Boca Raton, Fla.), classmate Jorge Isaias Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) and senior Michael Plutt (Weston, Fla.).

Dong is the reigning NEC Rookie of the Year and has gone 9-10 on the year, including a 6-7 mark at No. 2 singles. Jakubowski has put together a dominant year at No. 3 singles, posting a 5-1 mark, while Argentini has gone 10-5 in dual matches this year. Ortiz-Garcia has posted a 9-7 record in dual matches and Plutt is 10-6 overall.

The Bulldogs have also dominated in doubles play this season, winning 61 percent of their matches. Kuhar and Dong became the first nationally-ranked doubles team in NEC history earlier this year.