PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Valiants are championship bound! The Manhattanville College men's tennis team continued their dominance against conference opponents on Thursday evening, defeating fourth-seeded United States Merchant Marine Academy 5-0 in the Skyline Conference Championship Semifinals. With the win, the top-seeded Valiants improve to 12-5 on the year and will compete in this weekend's championship match.

Manhattanville earned their seventh clean sweep victory of the year in the semifinals matchup with Merchant Marine, winning all three doubles draws before winning a pair of singles matchups to advance to their second-straight Skyline Finals.

The three doubles matches finished in descending order, with the Valiants earning the first three points of the day. No. 3 Doubles wrapped first, with the duo of Dylan Crowley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) and Weston Goodwin (Freeport, ME/Freeport High School) earning an 8-2 victory over Demme Kraut and Isabelle Termulo. The tandem of Ryan Rosenberg (Frederick, Md./Oakdale) and Luis Gonzalez (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) had similar success in their No. 2 Doubles draw, defeating Chris Hirano and Gabby Eitkis 8-2. James Hourihan (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) and Nick Schlapak (Dover, N.H./Dover) completed the trifecta, earning the victory in No. 1 Doubles over RJ Novak and Connor McQuade 8-5.

Crowley would be the first victor in singles, picking up a 6-1, 6-0 win over Termulo in the No. 6 flight. Gonzalez then punched the Valiants' ticket to the finals with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Eitkis in the No. 3 position.

While the remainder of the singles matches were unfinished as the Valiants earned the five necessary points to win the match, Manhattanville had strong showings in the other four draws. In No. 1 Singles, Hourihan picked up what would be the game-winning point shortly after Gonzalez' win, blanking Hirano. Goodwin led McQuade 2-0 in the second set in No. 4 Singles after taking the first set 6-2, while Schlapak held a 4-2 lead over Kraut in the fifth flight after taking the opener 6-3. Rosenberg dropped the first set in the No. 2 Singles draw to Novak 6-3, but was tied 1-1 in the second set before the match concluded.

Up Next
The Valiants will host Yeshiva for the Skyline Championship match on Sunday. The Maccabees defeated Farmingdale State 5-1 on Thursday night to set up the regular-season finale rematch. Time of first serve is to be announced.

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