Pictured Above: Senior
Ilya Kneppelhout (Credit: Dave Saffran)
Box Score | Box Score (HTML)
West Windsor, NJ – For the second straight season, the Wagner College men's tennis team has advanced to the Northeast Conference (NEC) championship match, as the No.-2 seeded Seahawks defeated the No. 3-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights, 4-2, at the Mercer County Tennis Center on Friday afternoon.
The Green & White, who earned a bye into today's semifinal match, will be pitted against the top seed, Bryant, in a rematch of last season's finale, which the Bulldogs win by a 4-0 count.
Against FDU, the Seahawks held a 3-2 lead in the match, as all the focus came down to No. 5 and No. 6 singles. At fifth singles, senior
Eric Poland took the first set from Moric Budinszky, 6-4, before Budinszky rallied back to a 7-5 second-set triumph to extend the match.
While the Poland-Budinsky match was still in progress, senior captain
Ilya Kneppelhout outlasted Eduardo Cabral in a tiebreaker (7-4) to take the first set. In set two, Kneppelhout used a late break to close out the match at 6-3, to send the Seahawks back to the finals for the second straight season.
Junior
Dylan Walters picked up his 15th singles win of the season, defeating Andris Gudins, 6-4; 6-3, at No. 2 while junior
Hans Ohrner collected a 6-2; 6-1 victory at No. 3 over Maciej Autuch.
Wagner took two of three during doubles play that propelled the Seahawks to an early 1-0 lead in the overall match. Seniors
Anatoliy Lashkul and
Dale Sandy capped off the victory in doubles with a 6-4 win over Autuch and Andris Gudins.
Kneppelhout and Poland started the afternoon on the right foot for the Green & White with a 6-2 triumph over Budinszky and Dhouib, 6-2.
The winner of tomorrow's title match will earn the conference's automatic bid to the 2019 D1 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships.
Follow us: #CHAOSonthehill
Wagner Athletics
Men's Tennis:
