Quinnipiac University
Monmouth
QU Men's Tennis Faces Monmouth on Saturday in Big Senior Day MAAC Matchup (1 PM)
4/19/2018 12:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis
QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS (9-8, 6-0 MAAC) vs.
MONMOUTH HAWKS (11-13, 5-0 MAAC)
Date: Saturday, April 21
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: QU Outdoor Courts | Hamden, Conn.
HAMDEN, Conn. — The Quinnipiac men's tennis team plays a big MAAC match on Saturday at 1 p.m. against defending league champion Monmouth, with a chance to clinch the top seed in the conference tournament. It will also be Senior Day for the program's two seniors, Julian Rozenstein and Kyle Alper.
LAST MATCH (QUINNIPIAC 5, FAIRFIELD 2)
The Quinnipiac men's tennis team remained perfect in the MAAC at 6-0 as it defeated Fairfield 5-2 on the road Wednesday, one day after knocking off Rider 7-0. Senior Julian Rozenstein continued to dominate in the closing stretch of his career at No. 1 singles, earning a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles and teaming at No. 1 doubles with sophomore Patrick Cachapero for a 6-3 win. Cachapero earned the second singles win for the Bobcats to push their lead to 3-0, taking a close 7-6, 6-4 win at No. 3. Sophomore Axel Stern then wrapped up the team win with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 4 singles to give Quinnipiac its fourth point.
QUINNIPIAC WINS THRILLER OVER MARIST
Freshman Hielke Moore and sophomore Axel Stern broke a 1-1 tie for the doubles point, and then took the final two singles wins at No. 6 and No. 4, as the Quinnipiac men's tennis team won a narrow 4-3 decision over Marist on April 10 to improve to 3-0 in the MAAC. Moore and Stern held at love for a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles after the Bobcats had won at No. 1 and fallen at No. 3 to put their team ahead 1-0. Senior Julian Rozenstein, who combined with sophomore Patrick Cachapero for the win at No. 1 doubles, then had a dominant win at No. 1 singles (6-0, 6-1) to give Quinnipiac a 2-0 lead. After the next three singles matches went Marist's way, Moore evened the tally with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6, setting up Stern's match as the deciding one. After taking the first-set tiebreaker 9-7, Stern found himself down 4-3 in the third before winning the final three games, getting a service ace on the deuce point for a 5-4 lead and then coming back from 40-15 down to break for the match.
MAAC UPDATE
Quinnipiac is 6-0 in the MAAC and Monmouth is 5-0, making this weekend's matchup a likely battle for the top seed in the conference tournament. The Bobcats can clinch outright with a win to finish undefeated in conference play, while Monmouth still has a match remaining on Sunday with 5-1 Marist, which could potentially create a three-way tie if the Red Foxes win that one.
LAST YEAR vs. MONMOUTH
Monmouth took a 5-2 win over the Bobcats last year in West Long Branch on its way to the MAAC title. Current senior Julian Rozenstein took a three-set win at No. 2 singles, while graduated senior Kei Ezaka won at No. 1. The Hawks swept in doubles, but both No. 1 (Rozenstein/Cachapero) and No. 2 (Stern/Yannone) went to a tiebreaker.
ROZENSTEIN NAMED MAAC PLAYER OF WEEK FOR SECOND TIME
Senior Julian Rozenstein earned his second MAAC Player of the Week of the year on Wednesday after a dominant week in wins over Marist and Siena. Rozenstein took a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles against Marist in a narrow 4-3 Bobcat win, and then had a 6-2, 6-1 win at Siena. He earned the honor the first time after a 4-0 weekend to help the Bobcats pick up a pair of home wins over Niagara and Fordham on March 24-25. Hielke Moore also won the honor one week prior following a strong performance on Quinnipiac's Spring Break trip to Florida.
UP THE CHARTS
Senior Julian Rozenstein is in a tie for second place all-time in Quinnipiac career wins with 137, including 35 this year (18 singles, 17 doubles). He matches John Hughes '10 for second, six behind Kei Ezaka '17, who set the new mark last year with 143. Rozenstein's 35 wins this year put him in 10th place on Quinnipiac's single-season list, seven shy of the school record, while his 18 singles wins are six shy of his own school mark (that he shares with James Kwei '11) and his 78 career singles wins top the Quinnipiac charts. Fellow senior Kyle Alper has moved up to ninth place on the school wins chart with 93, including 16 this season.
CLOSING STRONG
Senior Julian Rozenstein is not only racking up the numbers for his career win total, he is also closing out his career with some of his best tennis. Over the last four matches, all against MAAC foes, he has won by an aggregate score of 48-7.
NO ADJUSTMENT NEEDED
Freshman Hielke Moore started his collegiate career with a four-win weekend at the UConn Invitational as he captured the Flight "C" Singles championship 6-0, 6-4. He now has 10 singles wins on the year (10-7) and ranks first on the Bobcats in overall winning percentage at 18-11 (10-7 singles, 8-4 doubles).
QUINNIPIAC PICKED THIRD IN PRESEASON
Quinnipiac was ranked third in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll as announced by the league office, following a season in which it reached the MAAC semifinals.
NEXT UP
Quinnipiac will head to Mercer County Park in New Jersey next weekend for the MAAC Tournament, with the semifinals taking place on Saturday and the two winners moving on to Sunday's finals.
Players Mentioned
