JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's tennis team — the top seeded squad in the 2021 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament — picked up its fifth victory of the season this afternoon, Friday, May 7, as the Gothic Knights defeated fourth-seeded Rutgers-Camden in the semifinal round by a score of 5-0 at home at the Lincoln Park Tennis Courts. The win allows NJCU to continue on in its first season in 22 years and gives the squad a shot to win the NJAC Title at home on Sunday, May 9, to put an exclamation point on this historic campaign, as well as garner hopes of an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship, which will be announced on Monday, May 10.

The Gothic Knights (5-1) started off the day with a 3-0 advantage before the first serve of the afternoon, as the Scarlet Raptors (0-4) were unable to field a complete six-man squad. After earning default victories at third doubles and fifth and sixth singles, NJCU just needed to come away with victories at first and second doubles to pick up the overall win and advance to the championship match on Sunday without playing singles.

The first of the two matches to finish was second doubles, which saw the duo of freshmen Jordi Julia (Barcelona, Spain/IES Sant Quirze del Valles) — a recent First Team All-NJAC selection in doubles — and Alejandro Ley (Las Palmas, Spain/I.E.S. Politécnico) dispatch their foes Andrew Yuen and Gavin Fernan without dropping a game by a score of 8-0. Then, to clinch the victory, NJCU earned the win minutes later at first doubles as another rookie due, Toni Cabot (Palma, Spain/IES Albuhaira) and Nico Teynie (Rouen, France/Lycée Val de Seine), won their match 8-1. Both players were named First Team All-NJAC in singles and doubles earlier this week, while Teynie was also named Rookie of the Year.

FULL RESULTS | NJCU def. Rutgers-Camden, 5-0 
Doubles
1 – Toni Cabot (Palma, Spain/IES Albuhaira)/Nico Teynie (Rouen, France/Lycée Val de Seine) (N) def. Jair Norman/Jose Vargas (R), 8-0
2 – Jordi Julia (Barcelona, Spain/IES Sant Quirze del Valles)/Alejandro Ley (Las Palmas, Spain/I.E.S. Politécnico) (N) def. Andrew Yuen/Gavin Fernan (R), 8-1
3 – Gerard Loras (Tortosa, Spain/Col·legi Diocesà Sagrada Família)/Alex Platonov (Weehawken, N.J./Weehawken) (N), win by forfeit
Singles
1 – Nico Teynie (Rouen, France/Lycée Val de Seine) (N) vs. Jair Norman (R), unplayed
2 – Jordi Julia (Barcelona, Spain/IES Sant Quirze del Valles) (N) vs. Andrew Yuen (R), unplayed
3 – Toni Cabot (Palma, Spain/IES Albuhaira) (N) vs. Gavin Fernan (R), unplayed
4 – Alejandro Ley (Las Palmas, Spain/I.E.S. Politécnico) (N) vs. Jose Vargas (R), unplayed
5 – Alex Platonov (Weehawken, N.J./Weehawken) (N), win by forfeit
6 – Gerard Loras (Tortosa, Spain/Col·legi Diocesà Sagrada Família) (N), win by forfeit 

What's Next
NJCU returns to action on Sunday, May 1, as the home team and top seed in the championship. The Gothic Knights will host second-seeded The College of New Jersey for a long-awaited rematch of the NJAC's closest match of the year. NJCU defeated TCNJ 5-4 back on April 10 in Ewing, N.J., with multiple matches going to three sets or tiebreaks, or both. Additionally, the Gothic Knights are currently ranked one spot ahead of the Lions in the most recent NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Rankings (NJCU is #12, TCNJ is #13). A couple other highlights are junior captain Theo Bourghelle (Lesquin, France/LaSalle Lille) — NJAC Player of the Year — who is ranked #12 among singles players in the northeast, while TCNJ's First Team All-NJAC doubles team of Justin Wain and Matthew Michibata is ranked #7 in the region.

Make sure to catch all the action at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday from the Lincoln Park Tennis Courts via GothicVision, where the match will be streamed live.