PURCHASE, N.Y. – The 2022 Skyline Conference regular season champs begin postseason play on Thursday afternoon, as the Manhattanville College men's tennis team will carry their No. 1 seed into the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament semifinals. The Valiants, sporting a perfect 7-0 conference mark on the year, will play host to No. 4 United States Merchant Marine Academy with first serve scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

How We Got Here:
The Valiants earned their second-straight Skyline Conference regular season title after completing a perfect conference season in 2022. While Manhattanville earned the No. 1 seed a year ago in the COVID-shortened season, this year marks the Valiants' first regular season title in a full campaign since 2008-09 when the Crimson and White were the MAC Freedom regular season champs.

Manhattanville claimed the top seed on Sunday in a battle of the unbeatens against Yeshiva. The Valiants outlasted the Maccabees to earn the 6-3 victory to improve to 10-5 overall. Manhattanville took all three doubles matches in what proved to be a crucial three points on the day. Nick Schlapak (Dover, N.H./Dover) and James Hourihan (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) earned the victory in No. 1 Doubles 8-7 (9-7 breaker). In No. 2 Doubles, Ryan Rosenberg (Frederick, Md./Oakdale) and Luis Gonzalez (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) earned the 8-7 (7-3 breaker) victory, while Weston Goodwin (Freeport, ME/Freeport High School) and Dylan Crowley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) completed the sweep with an 8-6 victory. Goodwin, Schlapak and Crowley added singles wins for the Valiants to take the match.

The Valiants got one final tune-up ahead of Thursday's semifinals match on Tuesday against Sarah Lawrence. Manhattanville defeated the Gryphons 9-0 in the non-conference matchup.

Merchant Marine earned the No. 4 seed in the Skyline Championship with a 4-3 conference record on the year and drew a first round matchup with No. 6 Purchase. The Mariners went on to defeat the Panthers 5-0, taking all three doubles matches and a pair of singles matches before the rest of the contests were called due to darkness. Connor McQuade and RJ Novak picked up an 8-7 (7-5 breaker) victory in No. 1 Doubles for USMMA, while Gabby Eitkis and Chris Hirano earned an 8-1 victory in the second position and Demme Kraut and Isabelle Termulo picked up the 8-2 win in No. 3 Doubles. McQuade and Kraut earned 6-0, 6-0 victories in their singles matches.

Last Time Out:
USMMA played host to the Valiants on April 16 in a contest that saw Manhattanville earn a 6-3 victory. The Crimson and White took two of the three doubles points and went 4-2 in singles play. The full scores from the match are below:

Doubles

• Schlapak / Goodwin def. by Novak / McQuade, 6-8
• Rosenberg / Gonzalez def. Eitkis / Hirano, 8-4
• Crowley / Moeller def. Kraut / Termulo, 8-2

Singles

• Rosenberg def. Hirano, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3)
• Gonzalez def. by Novak, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 5-7
• Goodwin def. Eitkis, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Schlapak def. by McQuade, 5-7, 0-6
• Crowley def. Kraut, 6-3, 6-1
• Loganadan def. Guettlein, 6-0, 7-5

History:
The Valiants are 12-13 all-time against USMMA in a series that dates back to 1983. After the Mariners took last year's meeting 6-3, the Valiants were able to pick up the win this season to split the series at 1-1 since Manhattanville returned to the Skyline Conference. In the last 10 meetings dating back to 2000, the Valiants hold a 7-3 advantage. In the 14 contests between the two teams held on the Manhattanville Tennis Courts, USMMA holds an 8-6 advantage.

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