GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 24, 2022) – For the second time in two seasons under the direction of Head Coach David Schilling, the No. 13 Denison University men's tennis team hoisted the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship trophy as the Big Red defeated No. 25 Kenyon College 5-3 at the Denison Tennis Courts on Sunday afternoon.
 
Notable Results:
No. 13 Denison 5, No. 25 Kenyon 3
Doubles

• The Big Red brought the energy to begin the day as Tim Cianciola and Jack Bulger got the Big Red off to a great start, winning 8-2 at No. 1 doubles.
• Marc-Lennart Harms and Blake Eason then put together a strong performance at No. 3 doubles, earning an 8-3 win to put the Big Red up 2-0.
• Lastly, at No. 2 doubles, Andy Mackler and Colin Gramley fought hard but came up short by a score of 8-5.

Singles

• Cianciola earned a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles to make it 3-1 Big Red.
• Then, if the energy around a championship match was not enough, each of the No. 2 through No. 6 singles matches went to three sets as the momentum began to favor the Lords.
• Macker won his first set but fell 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5 singles, and then Bulger won a tiebreaker in his second set at No. 2 singles, but lost 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 as the match knotted up at three wins apiece.
• Fortunately for the Big Red, the tide turned back into Denison's favor as Ryan Patrick won a third-set tiebreaker 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at No. 4 singles to put the Big Red one point away from a conference championship.
• The title was then sealed with a 6-7 (0-7), 6-4, 6-2 three-set victory for Harms at No. 3 singles.

 
Record Book Watch:

• In addition to capturing their 14th NCAC Championship in program history on Sunday, Denison now improves to 22-3 overall on the season, matching their program record of 22 wins set in 1997 when Denison finished 22-4 and was 13th at nationals.
• Marc-Lennart Harms extended his new Denison single-season record for singles wins to 24, but right behind him is Tim Cianciola with 23 wins. The previous Denison single-season record for singles wins was 21, set in both 2007 and 2010.
• Tim Cianciola extended his new Denison single-season record for doubles wins to 26. The previous Denison single-season record for double wins was 23, set in 2006.
• Lastly, Tim Cianciola has officially tied Denison's program record for singles wins in a career with 63. Cianciola is now a combined 63-15 in singles matches in his career, matching the number of wins originally set by Lee Hays from 1996-1999.

 
Next Up: Denison earns the NCAC's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship, which is set to begin on Saturday, May 14. The championship field will be announced on Monday, May 9, on NCAA.com.