Men's tennis officially opens spring slate with trip to Hanover, N.H.

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After yet another successful fall season, the Bryant University men's tennis team officially begins its quest to repeat as Northeast Conference Champions when it opens its spring schedule over the weekend vs. a pair of quality opponents in Hanover, N.H.

Led by seniors Zachary Morris (Garden City, N.Y.) and Ernesto Arguello (Managua, Nicaragua), the Bulldogs are locked and loaded with a wealth of talent and experience as they look to navigate through one of their toughest schedules to date.

"My goal for us is to improve as a whole each and every day," said head coach Ron Gendron. "When we talk about conference titles and other goals beyond that, those are just byproducts of the hard work and dedication we put in day after day.

"Our accomplishments last season have no bearing on the task ahead this year," added Gendron. "The expectation can't be to win a conference championships, although that is important to us, the expectation is and always will be to continually improve on a daily basis, both in the classroom and on the court".

A big part of that commitment starts with Morris who put together a near-flawless fall campaign and is playing arguably the best tennis of his career. The NEC Player of the Month for September went 12-1 in singles play during the fall, taking the No. 1 flight at the Brown Invitational to go along with a 3-0 showing at No. 1 singles at the Binghamton Invite. Morris also earned a big time win over Army's Alex Van Veltzer in the first round of the ITA Regionals in October.

Not to be outdone, freshman Matt Kuhar (Smithfield, R.I.) was equally impressive in his first semester of collegiate action, going 8-3 in singles action and 7-2 in doubles play, as the Smithfield native is quickly cementing himself as a force to be reckoned with. Kuhar capped off his fall season winning a qualifying spot into the ITA Regional main draw with wins over Alex Sidney (Cornell) and Peter Tarwid (Brown) before advancing to the second round of the main draw with a victory over Binghamton's Ismael Dinia.

"It's hard to imagine that we could conceivably improve with the departure of one of Bryant's all-time greats in Dana Parziale ('14)," noted Gendron. "But the additions of our talented freshman class have transformed us into an overall stronger team."

Adding depth to an already stacked Bryant lineup will be sophomore Oliver Welsh (San Diego, Calif.), juniors Max Vogt (Fair Oaks, Calif.) and Richard Sipala (Quogue, N.Y.), senior Joshua Rubinstein (Trumbull, Conn.) and freshmen Nick Lamart (Raleigh, N.C.), Joshua Kliger (Newport Beach, Calif.), Luke Lorenz (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Jorge Ortiz-Garcia (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico).

"Each player has risen to challenge they've been presented with thus far," stated Gendron. "And even with the extremely competitive schedule we've been tasked with, we will continue to battle no matter who is on the other side of the court."

The Black and Gold open their spring campaign with a big weekend in Hanover, N.H., with matches with a pair of tough teams in Dartmouth (Saturday) and Buffalo (Sunday).