PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's tennis team is officially one step away from a successful defense of their 2022 Skyline Conference Championship as the top-seeded Valiants defeated No. 5 United States Merchant Marine Academy 5-0 in the semifinal round on Thursday afternoon. The victory sends the Valiants back to the Conference Championship Finals for a third straight year as the team will look to repeat as champions tomorrow afternoon.

In a rematch of last year's semifinal showdown, the Valiants jumped out to a 3-0 lead by taking all three doubles matches. The No. 2 teaming of Luis Gonzalez (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) and Dylan Crowley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) were the first to notch a win, defeating Tom Chairs and Demme Kraut by a final of 8-2. Max Moeller (Crestwood, N.Y./Iona Prep) and Shiel Loganadan (New York, N.Y./Mary McDowell Friends) would defeated Brandon Bomboy and Gabby Eitkis in the No. 3 matchup soon after, 8-5. Over in the top flight, James Hourihan (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) and Weston Goodwin (Freeport, Maine/Freeport) held off Connor McQuade and RJ Novak 8-6 to put the Valiants in the driver's seat to begin singles action.

The Valiants needed just two of the six solo draws to advance to the championship and would take care of business by picking up victories in the No. 5 and No. 6 slots. Crowley was the first to get things done on court five, defeating Kraut 6-2, 6-3. Almost simultaneously Jaime Peredo (Uruapan, México/Instituto Morelos) notched his 6-2, 6-1 win over Bomboy in No. 6 Singles to secure the match win, 5-0.

While remaining unfinished, Hourihan was on the brink of a win in the top flight against Chairs, taking the first set 6-0 while leading the second 5-2 before Crowley and Peredo won their respective flights. Loganadan dropped set one to Eitkis 5-7 on court four before going up 4-1 in the second set. It was a similar story for Gonzalez over in No. 2 action, dropping the opener 5-7 to Novak before taking a 2-1 advantage before the match was won. Finally, Goodwin was locked in a battle with McQuade in the No. 3 spot, dropping a 6-7 (4-7) opening set.

Up Next
The Valiants will host No. 2 Farmingdale in the finals. Due to the inclement weather forecasted all weekend long, the championship match has been moved up to tomorrow. First serve will be at 1 p.m.

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