EDGEWATER, N.J.— The Yeshiva University men's tennis team made history, again! For the second time in as many years, the Maccabees stand atop the summit of the Skyline Conference as champions of the league. The top seeded Maccabees edged out No. 3 seed Farmingdale State 5-4 in a thrilling championship match to claim the conference's top prize.
As a result, Yeshiva, after making history last season as the first program in University history to represent the school in a postseason NCAA tournament, will return to the national stage again after earning the Skyline Conference's automatic qualifier into the big dance.
"It was an exciting match today, a real team effort, everyone played hard and we came up with the win," said Yeshiva University head men's tennis coach,
Jon Rubinstein. "We are looking forward to going back to the NCAA's and hope to go deep into the tournament."
The Maccabees earned two of three wins in doubles play, needing just a split in the six singles matches to assure themselves the win. In doubles play, Yeshiva picked up wins at No.2 and No. 3. At No.2, the duo of
Charles Saka and
Steven Jemal scored an 8-2 win over FSC's Marvin Beaubrun and Kevin Palacios, while the No. 3 doubles team of
Dmitri Lebedyev and
Robby Rubin cruised to an 8-1 victory over the FSC duo of Arvind Mahalingam and Karuppiah Karuppiah. Meanwhile at No. 1 doubles, the Maccabees lost narrowly 9-8 (7-4) as the team of
David Papis Elon and
Eitan Rudansky was defeated by Tyler Danzy and Chris Hunter of the Rams.
After leading 2-1 after doubles play, the Maccabees won the three matches they needed to solidify the 5-4 victory. At No. 2 singles, Lebedyev, who was named tournament Most Valuable Player, picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Danzy, while at No. 3 singles,
Steven Jemal earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over Palacios. At No. 4 singles,
Adam Wannon lost 6-3, 6-2 to Dan Baruch of FSC. At No. 6 singles,
Meir Burk was defeated by Joseph Drago 6-4, 6-2, making the score 4-3 Yeshiva with No. 1 and No. 4 singles remaining.
Both No. 1 singles and No. 4 singles went into a tie breaker set. At No. 4, Saka and Daniel Kafka split the first two sets, with Kafka winning the first 6-1 and Saka taking the second 6-4. At No. 1 singles, Papis Elon won 6-3 over Hunter in the first set, before Hunter won the second set 6-4 to force a tiebreaker set.
In the tiebreaker set, Kafka beat Saka 6-3 to tie the match at 4-4 with just the No. 1 singles match hanging in the balance. Papis Elon, who had been undefeated in singles play all season long, kept his undefeated record intact when it mattered most, finishing off Hunter 6-3 to clinch the match for the Maccabees.
Yeshiva will now wait until Monday, May 4 when the NCAA Division III men's tennis selection committee sets the tournament matchups. The NCAA Division III men's tennis tournament is set to begin on Thursday, May 7.
| Singles competition |
| 1. Papis Elon, David (YU-M) def. Hunter, Chris (FSCM) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 |
| 2. Lebedyev, Dmitri (YU-M) def. Danzy, Tyler (FSCM) 6-3, 6-4 |
| 3. Jemal, Steven (YU-M) def. Palacios, Kevin (FSCM) 6-1, 6-2 |
| 4. Baruch, Dan (FSCM) def. Wannon, Adam (YU-M) 6-3, 6-2 |
| 5. Kafka, Daniel (FSCM) def. Saka, Charles (YU-M) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 |
| 6. Drago, Joseph (FSCM) def. Burk, Meir (YU-M) 6-4, 6-2 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Danzy, Tyler/Hunter, Chris (FSCM) def. Papis Elon, David/Rudansky, Eitan (YU-M) 9-8 (7-4) |
| 2. Jemal, Steven/Saka, Charles (YU-M) def. Beaubrun, Marvin/Palacios, Kevin (FSCM) 8-2 |
| 3. Lebedyev, Dmitri/Rubin, Robby (YU-M) def. Mahalingam, Aravind/Karuppiah, Karuppiah (FSCM) 8-1 |
| Match Notes |
| Farmingdale State 10-5 |
| Yeshiva University 12-3 |
