JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University men's tennis team faced off with #30-ranked The College of New Jersey today, Sunday, April 24, in the de facto New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) East Division Championship at the Lincoln Park Tennis Courts. The winner of today's match would earn a spot in the NJAC Championship match on Saturday, May 7, against the West Division champion, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for the right to represent the conference in the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship. Unfortunately, the Gothic Knights were unable to repeat last year's Division Title-winning performance, and the Lions won the day, 8-1.

Things got started in doubles play and all three matches were extremely competitive. First doubles, which featured the #14-regionally ranked TCNJ (13-2, 3-0 NJAC) pair of Justin Wain and Matthew Michibata took on sophomore Nico Teynie (Rouen, France/Lycée Val de Seine) and senior co-captain Theo Bourghelle (Lesquin, France/LaSalle Lille). The NJCU (6-6, 2-1 NJAC) duo fought hard, but fell to the Lions top team, 8-5. Next to finish was third doubles where sophomore Alejandro Ley (Las Palmas, Spain/I.E.S. Politécnico) and Jordi Julia (Barcelona, Spain/IES Sant Quirze del Valles) battled to the same score, 8-5, in the loss. Last to finish was second doubles, where freshman Olaf de Lange (Maasland, Netherlands/Stedelijk Gymnasium Schiedam) and junior Ryan Weiss (Mullica Hill, N.J./Clearview Regional) took on seniors Nick Matkiwsky and Nikola Kilibarda — the pair sat out the 2020-21 season. This was the tightest doubles clash, with the Lions coming out on top, 8-6.

Nearly all of the singles matches were also very tight. TCNJ took the first win at sixth singles as de Lange fell, 6-3, 6-3. Fifth singles was next to end — clinching the win for the Lions — as Weiss fell, 6-3, 6-4. TCNJ's run continued at third singles as Julia fell, 6-2, 6-2. NJCU's first victory of the day came at second singles as Bourghelle came back from one set down to win in a third set tiebreak, 2-6, 6-3, 10-6. First singles ended next as Teynie battle through a tough first set tiebreak, falling 7-6(3) before dropping the second set, 6-1. Fourth singles was the last match to come to a close as Ley dropped the first sent, 6-3, before battling hard in a second set tiebreak, 7-6(8).

Up Next:
The Gothic Knights' season comes to a close with this one and they will now regroup and reload for another run at a championship in 2022-23.