Denison set to host 2022 NCAC Men’s Tennis Tournament

GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 21, 2022) – The Denison University men's tennis team is set to host the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament starting on Friday, April 22, and running through Sunday, April 24, at the Denison Tennis Courts. Denison is seeking its 14th NCAC Championship in men's tennis and the second in two years under the direction of Head Coach David Schilling.

The Big Red, who are ranked No. 13 in the current Division III Men's ITA Collegiate Tennis National Rankings and are ranked fourth in the Central Region, will enter the weekend with an overall record of 19-3. On April 10, Denison defeated DePauw University 8-1 to finish 4-0 and win the NCAC West for the third time in five years (2020 was COVID year; 2021 they won the NCAC East).

2022 NCAC Men's Tennis Championship Seeds & Pairings

The 2022 NCAC Men's Tennis Championships will be held this weekend, April 22-24, at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. The tournament begins with quarterfinal matches on Friday, semifinal and fifth- and seventh-place matches on Saturday and the championship and third-place matches on Sunday. The first two days will begin with matches at 11:00 a.m. and conclude with matches at 1:30 p.m. The championship and third-place match are scheduled for Noon on Sunday.

The No. 1 seed in the NCAC West Division, Denison (19-3, 4-0 NCAC), will play the No. 4 seed in the East, Allegheny (6-9, 0-3 NCAC), while DePauw (11-8, 3-1 NCAC), the West Division's second seed, will meet the East Division's third seed, Oberlin (6-12, 1-2 NCAC). In the other two opening-round matches, the East Division's No. 1 seed, Kenyon (11-7, 3-0 NCAC) will take on the No. 4 seed in the West Division, Ohio Wesleyan (6-13, 1-3 NCAC), while Wooster (11-7, 2-1 NCAC), the East's No. 2-seed will meet up with the No. 3 seed in the West in Wittenberg (6-10, 2-2 NCAC).

Scouting Allegheny

Allegheny finished its regular season 8-9 overall and 0-3 in the NCAC East Division. The Gators defeated Penn State Behrend 9-0 at home in their final match of the regular season on Wednesday, April 20.

Denison is 21-0 against Allegheny since 2005 and is 44-1 all-time against the Gators. The last four meetings between the two teams have all been 9-0 sweeps for the Big Red, including twice in 2020-21.

Common opponents between the Big Red and the Gators this season include Oberlin, Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan and Kenyon. Denison defeated Oberlin, Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan each by a score of 9-0 while dropping a close 5-4 match at No. 25 Kenyon. Allegheny, meanwhile, lost 6-3 vs. Oberlin, 8-1 at Wooster and 7-2 vs. Kenyon while defeating OWU 5-4.

2022 Denison Men's Tennis Lineup

Singles

Doubles

Player Rankings

Tim Cianciola is currently the No. 2 ranked player in the Central Region while Marc-Lennart Harms is No. 23 and Jack Bulger is No. 24
Tim Cianciola and Jack Bulger are the No. 1 ranked doubles pair in the Central Region.

Record Book Watch

Denison's 19 wins so far this season are tied for the third most in program history, and are its most wins in a single season since 1998 when the Big Red finished 19-4 had their best ever nationals finish of ninth place. The program record for wins in a single season is 22, set in 1997 when Denison finished 22-4 and was 13th at nationals. The Big Red could tie their all-time wins mark if they win the conference championship this weekend.
Marc-Lennart Harms now holds the Denison men's tennis single-season record for singles victories with a record of 22-7, breaking the previous record of 21 reached in both 2007 and 2010. Tim Cianciola is right behind Harms in singles wins this year with a record of 21-4, so either one of them could ultimately finish as Denison's new single-season record holder in singles wins.
Now with a combined doubles record of 23-2 on the season, Tim Cianciola has tied the Big Red's single-season record for doubles wins set in 2006. Right behind him, however, is Andy Mackler at 22-7 and Jack Bulger at 21-3.
With a career singles record of 61-15, Tim Cianciola is now third on Denison's career singles wins list, and is only two away from the record of 63 set by Lee Hays (1996-99).

NCAC Athlete of the Week Awards

Denison men's tennis earned five conference athlete of the week awards during the regular season:

2/14/22: Jack Bulger was 3-0 overall on Saturday (2-0 in singles, 1-0 in doubles) while helping No. 21 Denison to a 9-0 sweep over No. 29 Washington & Lee University in its season opener, followed by another 9-0 sweep over Ohio Wesleyan University in its NCAC West Division opener. Bulger earned an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles and a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 2 singles against W&L, and then won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 singles vs. OWU.

3/7/22: Marc-Lennart Harms went 3-0 on the weekend for the Big Red, including two wins in a 7-2 victory against No. 20 Kalamazoo. Harms Is now 6-0 in singles matches on the season while he and his partner, Blake Eason, are 3-1 at No. 3 doubles.

3/21/22: Ryan Patrick went 3-0 in singles during Denison's Spring Break trip to the Northeast, helping the Big Red to a win in all three matches. Patrick earned wins at No. 4 singles vs. the No. 13-ranked team in NCAA Division III and at No. 5 singles vs. the No. 9-ranked team. His win against No. 9 Brandeis was the first win for Denison in the match, starting a stretch of five straight singles wins to allow the Big Red to come back and win it 5-4.

3/28/22: Tim Cianciola went 4-0 on Saturday with two wins at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, including going 2-0 in a 9-0 sweep against the No. 17-ranked team in the nation, Carnegie Mellon University. He helped No. 14 Denison improve to 10-1 on the season while boosting his individual record to 9-1 in doubles and 8-2 in singles play.

4/11/22: Andy Mackler was 8-0 on the week, going 5-0 in doubles and 3-0 in singles while helping No. 13 Denison improve to 17-1 overall with wins over Wittenberg, Capital, Asbury, Wabash and DePauw. In singles, Mackler won twice at No. 4 singles and once in the fifth spot while only losing seven games across his three matches. In doubles, he won twice in the No. 2 spot and three times in the No. 3 flight while he and has partner won without dropping a single game three times.

2022 Denison Tournament Central
2022 NCAC Tournament Central
2022 NCAC Men's Tennis Standings

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