WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – With a pair of victories over its hOURglass rivals, Saint Peter's and Rider, the Monmouth University men's tennis team claimed at least a share of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship, Saturday afternoon. The Hawks, who will occupy the top-seed in next week's MAAC Championship, downed the Peacocks 7-0, before cruising to a 6-0 victory over the Broncs to finish the regular season undefeated at home for the second-straight year.
Monmouth, which can claim the title outright with a win on Monday at Fairfield, earns its first conference championship since winning the Northeast Conference crown in 1995. Despite the regular season finale's outcomes, the Hawks enter the MAAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will met fourth-seeded Niagara, the second-straight year the two sides have meet in the conference semifinals. Marist and Quinnipiac will face each other in the other semifinals, seeding to be determined by its head-to-head match on Monday. The 2015 MAAC Championship will be held at Mercer County Park in West Windsor N.J. next weekend, April 25-26.
Against Saint Peter's, Monmouth took the doubles point, earning wins in all three matches. Przemyslaw Filipek (Bedzin, Poland (Second Lo [Silesia]) earned a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 1 over Carolos Carrera and Bee Kumthonkittikul (Bangkok, Thailand/Pendleton School) rallied to down Daniil Ivanov, 6-7, 6-0, 10-6 at No. 2. Luke Adamus (Mosman, New South Wales/Redlands) made quick work at No. 3, downing Oliver Bellomi 6-1, 6-1 before Christian Vieira (Houston, Texas/Memorial) capped off the Blue and White's scoring with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 4.
In the afternoon session, Monmouth only dropped a total of three points. Adamus, Vieria and Daniil Ginzburg (Moscow, Russia/Moscow PS #1384) each posted 6-0, 6-0 wins, while Ale Gomez Estrada downed Chris Popso 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 and Vidit Vaghela (Ahmedabad, India/A.G. High School [H.L. College of Commerce]) got into the win column with a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2.
"Our guys came out today in tough conditions and really took care of business," commented head coach Cory Hubbard. "I was worried about a little let down after two big wins this week, but we played well. It was a good day to give some guys some rest and get some other guys in the singles lineup. We have one more tough match on the road tomorrow, so it will be a test physically to play our fourth match in three days, but with a chance to clinch the outright regular season title, I know we will be ready to compete."
The Hawks close out the regular season tomorrow when it travels to Fairfield at 3:00 p.m.
-@MUMtennis-
Tennis Match Results
Saint Peter's University vs Monmouth
Apr 19, 2015 at West Long Branch, N.J.
Monmouth 7, Saint Peter's University 0
Singles competition
1. Filipek, Przemyslaw (MU-M) def. Carlos Carrera (SPUM14) 6-4, 6-0
2. Kumthonkittikul, Bee (MU-M) def. Daniil Ivanov (SPUM14) 6-7, 6-0, 10-6
3. Adamus, Luke (MU-M) def. Oliver Bellomi (SPUM14) 6-1, 6-1
4. Vieira, Christian (MU-M) def. Jonathan Paredes (SPUM14) 6-2, 6-0
5. Bekhiet, Ramy (MU-M) def. No player (SPUM14), by default
6. Ginzburg, Daniil (MU-M) def. No player (SPUM14), by default
Doubles competition
1. Pugliese, Victor/Vaghela, Vidit (MU-M) def. Carlos Carrera/Daniil Ivanov (SPUM14) 8-7
2. Gomez Estrada, Ale/Bekhiet, Ramy (MU-M) def. Oliver Bellomi/Jonathan Paredes (SPUM14) 8-2
3. Vieira, Christian/Filipek, Przemyslaw (MU-M) def. No player/No player (SPUM14), by default
Match Notes:
Saint Peter's University 5-15 (1-6 MAAC)
Tennis Match Results
Rider University Men's Tennis vs Monmouth
Apr 19, 2015 at
Monmouth 6, Rider University Men's Tennis 0
Singles competition
1. Estrada, Ale Gomez (MU-M) def. Popso, Chris (RIDM) 6-0, 6-1
2. Vaghela, Vidit (MU-M) def. Van Herwarde, Jeremy (RIDM) 6-0, 6-2
3. Adamus, Luke (MU-M) def. Berhane, Agaazi (RIDM) 6-0, 6-0
4. Vieira, Christian (MU-M) def. Begley, Matthew (RIDM) 6-0, 6-0
5. Ginzburg, Daniil (MU-M) def. Levi, Adam (RIDM) 6-0, 6-0
6. No player (MU-M) def. No player (RIDM), by default
Match Notes:
Monmouth 12-8 (5-0 MAAC)
