By Jonah Bronstein
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
The second season gets underway for the Niagara University’s men’s and women’s tennis teams Friday with the start of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship tournament.
“It’s always exciting to kind of start the season over,” said Paul Calkins, who has coached the Niagara women for the past 10 years and won MAAC titles in 2003 and 2005.
Both Niagara teams enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed. The men will face No. 4 Loyola at 9 a.m. Friday, while the women will face No. 5 Siena at 1:30 p.m.
Last year, the Niagara women were the No. 1 seed in the tournament and lost to Fairfield in the championship match.
“This is probably the lowest seed we’ve had in several years,” Calkins said. “We’ve struggled with injuries and depth. I don’t think there is the pressure on us that we had last year as the No. 1 seed.”
Brittany Walters (Kenmore East) has been Niagara’s top performer this spring, going 15-15 overall and 5-2 in MAAC play. She finished the season winning eight of her last nine matches. No. 1 singles player Hilary Hansen posted victories in dual matches against Siena, as well as possible semifinal opponent Fairfield.
On the men’s side, coach Anthony Nguyen led the Purple Eagles to a four-win improvement in his second year. The freshmen Jeremy Quiroz, Brandon Gallegos and Matthew Kane are Niagara’s top three players, while sophomores David Lemieux-Sarrasin and Joe Zelic also have winning records in MAAC matches.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a younger team in the country,” Nguyen said. “We’ve had some good results and gone through some growing pains this year, and that can be attributed to the team being so young.”
Quiroz, the No. 1 singles player, went 16-10 overall and 5-1 in the MAAC, becoming the first freshman to lead Niagara in victories since Erick Garcia did it in 2003.
“He was a highly-regarded recruit. We were very happy, very fortunate to get him,” Nguyen said. “He was recruited by a lot of big-name universities out in California.”
The Niagara women lost 5-2 at Siena on April 11. The men’s team lost 4-3 at Loyola on March 20.
“Give credit to Loyola, they beat us, but we felt like we should have won that match,” Nguyen said. “I think the guys are chomping at the bit to get some revenge.”
Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.
