Diamond is among the key returnees for the Skyhawks, bringing results from the bottom of the lineup. |
Skyhawks open spring season Sunday at Wheaton
NE10 Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll Announcement
EASTON, Mass. (February 14, 2019) – The Stonehill College men's tennis team has been picked seventh in the Northeast-10 Conference by its ten head coaches, the league announced on Wednesday.
Stonehill received 58 points, just two behind Adelphi University for sixth place in the NE10 preseason poll. Three-time defending NE10 Tournament champions Southern New Hampshire University has been picked first in the preseason poll with 96 points and eight of the ten first place votes. Merrimack College, runners-up in the NE10 Tournament the last two years, is ranked second with 85 points and one first place vote, while Le Moyne College (79 points) is third. Bentley University (72) received the remaining first place vote and is tied for fourth in the poll with Franklin Pierce University (72), followed by Adelphi (60) and then Stonehill (58).
Stonehill enters the spring season with a 3-0 record overall following the fall portion of its schedule. The Skyhawks lineup, under the direction of Stonehill Athletic Hall of Famer Peter Miller, '75 in his 39th season, has been boosted by the influx of two transfers who had solid fall seasons in the purple and white. Junior Samuel Miller, Miller's son, came to Stonehill after Saint Francis (Pa.) University dropped its men's tennis program last summer, and posted a combined 10-4 record in singles and doubles play in the fall. He posted a 4-2 mark at the top of the Skyhawks lineup, while posting a 6-2 doubles record with two different playing partners. Freshman Vincent Huynh, who attended West Liberty University and earned All-Mountain East Conference honors, was a combined 8-5 in the fall, including a 5-1 singles record while competing at No. 2 and No. 3.
White earned NE10 All-Rookie honors last season and is off to a solid start to his sophomore campaign. |
Junior Aaron Diamond is a combined 6-3 this year, including 4-1 while seeing time at No. 5 and No. 6 singles for Stonehill. Classmate Manu Ravichandrakumar earned NE10 All-Rookie status as a freshman and has had an impact in the middle of the Skyhawks lineup over his career. Sophomores Russell White and Trent Newman also return after earning NE10 All-Rookie honors as freshmen. White was a combined 7-6 in the fall, including a 3-2 singles record at the top of the Skyhawks lineup, while Newman returns after posting a combined 24-15 singles and doubles record as a freshman, including 12-5 at No. 1 doubles to go with a 4-3 singles record in NE10 play at the top of the lineup.
Sophomores Joey Conrod, Jonathan Gordon and Aleksander Lazowski round out Stonehill's group of returnees. Conrod posted a 5-1 doubles record in the fall with freshman Luke Mendoza, competing at both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, while Lazowski was 3-1 in doubles play in the fall with two different playing partners.
Mendoza and fellow freshman Juan Camilo Riano Rojas have had an immediate impact for Stonehill, along with its upperclass transfers. Mendoza was named the NE10 Rookie of the Week once in the fall and posted a combined 8-3 record in singles and doubles play in the fall, adding a 3-1 singles mark to his 5-1 doubles record with Conrod, while Riano Rojas also collected NE10 Rookie of the Week honors once, finishing the fall with a combined 8-3 record, including 3-1 in singles play after winning all three matches at No. 4 singles.
Stonehill resumes its 2018-19 season with its spring opener on Sunday at Wheaton (Mass.) College at 4 p.m. The Skyhawks will host Colby-Sawyer College on Sunday, February 24, inside the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex at 1 p.m. Stonehill's NE10 opener is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26, when it hosts Assumption College at 3:30 p.m.
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