FAIRFIELD, Conn.-It was a beautiful day for tennis and an equally beautiful outcome for the Fairfield University men's squad, as the Stags prevailed 4-3 in a hard-fought battle of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference unbeatens against the Quinnipiac University Bobcats on Tuesday afternoon at the Walsh Athletic Center Tennis Courts.
Tuesday's victory over the Bobcats gives Fairfield its first outright MAAC regular season title since 2009, after sharing the crown last year. This year's regular season title is the third in the program's history.
With the Stags' women's team also claiming the outright MAAC regular season crown yesterday, Fairfield becomes the first school in the conference to earn both regular season tennis titles since 2008.
The Stags have now won 10 matches in a row on the year, and the team heads into the MAAC Championship with a 13-8 overall record after going 6-0 in conference play. QU is now 12-10 overall and finishes 5-1 in the MAAC regular season.
It was a battle royale on Tuesday between the MAAC's top two men's tennis teams, as both the all-important doubles point, and the match itself in singles play, was decided via a tiebreaker.
In doubles, QU won at number one and the Stags' pair of Luca Benaibbouche and Kostas Kollias cruised at number three, 6-1, setting up a deciding match at number two that saw Fairfield's Nick Condos and Will O'Brien prevail, 7-6, as they won the tiebreaker 9-7 after trailing 6-7.
In singles, the Stags got wins from Sam Hodges at number two, 6-0, 6-4, and Kostas Kollias at number five, 6-3, 6-4, but the visitors took three singles victories to set up a deciding tilt at number two in which Nick Condos clinched things with a nail-biting, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (3) triumph.
Head coach Jeff Bricker lauded his team's gusty performance on Tuesday saying, "That was an amazing tennis match. Both teams were exceptional. For Nick to be involved in two clinching tiebreakers first in doubles, then in singles to win the match is amazing. He's been clutch all year, and he came through again today. The job isn't finished though. It's back to work for the MAAC tourney."
The top-seeded Stags will now take on the fourth-seeded Rider University Broncos at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 20 in the semifinals of the 2024 MAAC Women's Tennis Championship that will be played in West Windsor, New Jersey at Mercer County Park Tennis Center.
