Box Score

The No. 1 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis team used the doubles point and three singles victories to knock off third seeded Monmouth, 4-0, in the Northeast Conference Tournament Championship at the Mercer County Indoor Tennis Center in West Windsor, NJ to set an NEC record with 11 men's tennis titles.

Head Coach Ira Miller, who now has seven NEC men's championships to his name, leads the Knights (15-8) to their first championship since 2008 and earns the NEC's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

After shutout wins in the first two rounds outside, rain forced the action indoors, but the Knights did not miss a beat by picking up their 11th win in their last 12 matches.

FDU got it going early with convincing wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles for a 1-0 advantage. At No. 1 doubles, five-time NEC Rookie of the Week and reigning Player of the Week Arvis Berzins (Adazi, Latvia/Riga Language School) and junior Ibrahim Shams (Cairo, Egypt/Manor House) set the tone with their NEC-leading 14th No. 1 doubles win by taking down MU's Freddy Marcinkowski and Francis Jedlinski, 8-2.

The Knights' other doubles win at No. 3 came from  juniors Mark Hemy (Suffolk, England/Ipswich School) and Peter Skvarka (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia/Gymnazium J.G. Tajovskeho), winning their 13th doubles match this season by an 8-2 margin over Jason Rothstein and Carl Jedlinski.

At No. 2 doubles, a match that went unfinished, seniors Dominic Hemy (Suffolk, England/Ipswich School) and Marco Jemersic (Zagreb, Croatia/X Gimnazija Ivan Supek) were tied with Laurence Heads and David Sherwood with each side winning five games.

Dominic Hemy (Suffolk, England/Ipswich School) made it 2-0 in favor of the Burgundy and Blue as the first singles match to wrap up at No. 6. His straight set 6-1, 6-1 win over Jason Rothstein was his NEC-best ninth No. 6 singles win on the season.

In No. 2 singles action, Shams extended the Knights' lead to 3-0 with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win against the Hawks' Francis Jedlinski. Shams has an NEC best 14 No. 2 singles wins and leads the NEC's No. 2 singles players with wins in better than 77 percent of his matches.

FDU clinched the title with a victory by Berzins, another straight set 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles. His defeat of Marcinkowski, his 15th No. 1 singles win of the season, Berzins now has five more wins than any other No. 1 singles player in the NEC. He completed the NEC season with a perfect 7-0 singles mark against NEC opponents.

In matches that were not completed, FDU junior Yuri Gricheno (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Amorim) won the first set of his No. 3 singles match, 7-6 (7-3), and was leading Heads, 3-1, in the second set. After dropping the first set to Carl Jedlinski, Mark Hemy (Suffolk, England/Ipswich School) was winning set number two at No. 4 by a 4-1 score, and Skvarka won his first set against Sherwood at No. 5.

The Knights will now await word on their opponent and location for the NCAA Tournament.

Doubles 1. BERZINS, Arvis/SHAMS, Ibrahim (FDU) def. MARCINKOWSKI, Freddy/JEDLINSKI, Francis (MU) 8-2

2. HEMY, Dominic/JEMERSIC, Marco (FDU) vs. HEADS, Laurence/SHERWOOD, David (MU) 5-5, unfinished

3. HEMY, Mark/SKVARKA, Peter (FDU) def. ROTHSTEIN, Jason/JEDLINSKI, Carl (MU) 8-2

 

Singles 1. BERZINS, Arvis (FDU) def. MARCINKOWSKI, Freddy (MU) 6-2, 6-4

2. SHAMS, Ibrahim (FDU) def. JEDLINSKI, Francis (MU) 6-0, 6-1

3. GRICHENO, Yuri (FDU) vs. HEADS, Laurence (MU) 7-6 (7-3), 3-1, unfinished

4. HEMY, Mark (FDU) vs. JEDLINSKI, Carl (MU) 2-6, 4-1, unfinished

5. SKVARKA, Peter (FDU) vs. SHERWOOD, David (MU) 6-2, 2-5, unfinished

6. HEMY, Dominic (FDU) def. ROTHSTEIN, Jason (MU) 6-1, 6-1