Denison men’s tennis enters NCAC Tournament as No. 1 seed

GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 26, 2023) – After finishing a perfect 7-0 against conference opponent to claim the North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship, the Denison University men's tennis team is set to compete in the 2023 NCAC Men's Tennis Tournament, hosted by DePauw University from April 28-30 in Greencastle, Indiana. The top-seeded Big Red will open postseason play against eighth-seeded Wittenberg University in the first match of the tournament at 10 a.m. on Friday.

Denison, which is ranked No. 14 in the most recent Division III Men's ITA Collegiate Tennis National Rankings and is ranked fifth in the Central Region, will enter the postseason with its second eight-match winning streak of the year.

Denison's 22 wins (22-3 overall) are the most in program history for the regular season, surpassing the previous bests of 18 wins in 1999 (18-1) and 19 wins in 2022 (19-3).

2023 NCAC Men's Tennis Championship Seeds & Pairings

Denison (7-0 NCAC) won its third-consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference men's tennis championship after finishing the season with a perfect mark against league foes. Kenyon has accumulated a league-leading 22 NCAC championship titles (1989, 1991-93, '95, 2002-05, 2007-2019), while Denison has captured 15 titles (1985-89, '94, 1997-2001, '06, 2021-23) and Wooster has earned four conference championships (1985, 1989-90, '96).

The Owls (6-1) finished second in the regular season standings, followed by DePauw (5-2), Oberlin (4-3), Wabash (3-4), Wooster (2-5), Ohio Wesleyan (1-6) and Wittenberg (0-7).

As league champions, Denison has earned the No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAC Men's Tennis Tournament. The three-day, seven-match, single-elimination tournament will be held at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ohio this weekend, April 28-30. The tournament begins with quarterfinal matches on Friday, semifinal matches on Saturday and the championship match on Sunday.

The first quarterfinal match on Friday, Match A, will feature No. 1 Denison and No. 8 Wittenberg at 10:00 a.m., followed by Match D at 12:30 p.m. between No. 2 Kenyon and No. 7 Ohio Wesleyan. Then at 3:00 p.m., Match C will be contested with No. 3 DePauw taking on No. 6 Wooster, while Match B is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., featuring No. 4 Oberlin and No. 5 Wabash.

On Saturday, the first semifinal match is scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. start with the winner of Match A facing the winner of Match B, while the winners of Match C and D will square off at 3:00 p.m. The championship match is set for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The tournament winner receives the NCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Scouting Wittenberg

Wittenberg finished its regular season 3-14 overall and 0-7 in the NCAC. The Tigers have dropped their final nine matches and have not won since a 5-4 victory on March 8 against Spring Arbor in Florida.

The Big Red 51-12 all-time against the Tigers with 21 straight wins. Denison has swept Wittenberg in each of their past four regular-season matchups.

2023 Denison Men's Tennis Lineup

Singles

Doubles

Player Rankings

Jack Bulger is the No. 11-ranked singles player in the Central Region while Jacob Patterson is No. 13 and Marc-Lennart Harms is No. 23.
Jack Bulger and Marc-Lennart Harms are the No. 5-ranked doubles pairing in the Central Region.

Record Book Watch

Denison's 22 wins so far this season are tied for the second most in program history, and are just one behind the program record of 23 wins set last season (23-4).
Freshman Andreas Chapides broke the Denison single-season record for singles wins with 28 total wins (28-2) between the tournament and dual meet seasons. The previous Big Red record was 27 wins set by Tim Cianciola just last season. Fellow-freshman Jacob Patterson's 22 singles wins rank fourth on Denison's list for a single season while the 20 wins for senior Jack Bulger are tied for sixth.
Junior Zachary Portnoy's 23 doubles wins are tied for the fourth most in a single season in program history. He is five behind the leader, Cianciola, with 28 doubles wins set just last season.
Chapides' 41 combined wins between singles and doubles this season are tied for the fifth most in a single season in program history while Portnoy's 40 wins are tied for seventh. The leader is once again Cianciola with 55 combined wins last year.
Bulger's 59 career singles wins rank fifth in program history while his 64 career doubles wins are tied for seventh and his 123 combined wins are also fifth.

NCAC Athlete of the Week Awards

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

1/20/2023: Marc-Lennart Harms went 2-0 with a win in both singles and doubles during the first day of the dual meet season for the Big Red on Saturday. In a pair of 9-0 wins inside the Mitchell Fieldhouse against John Carroll, Harms teamed up with Jack Bulger for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles in the first match before earning a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles in the second match.

2/20/2023: Jacob Patterson went 3-2 over the weekend with a win against the defending NCAA Division III National Champions and No. 1-ranked Chicago. Against the Maroons, Patterson picked up Denison's lone win in singles action as he won in a third-set super tiebreaker at No. 4 singles with a 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (11-9) comeback victory. At No. 2 singles against Asbury, the rookie won in three sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-0) while he and his partner, Andreas Chapides, won 8-1 at No. 2 doubles.

3/20/2023: Andy Mackler posted an 8-1 record after going 5-0 in singles and 3-1 in doubles. Mackler won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 singles in a 5-1 win over North Central. He collected a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles while he and sophomore Colin Gramley came out on top 8-5 at No. 2 doubles in a 9-0 victory against Carthage. In a 7-2 win over No. 30-ranked Skidmore, Mackler and junior Zachary Portnoy won 8-1 at No. 2 doubles. Against NCAA Division I Niagara, Mackler won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 singles to clinch the 5-2 win for Denison. Mackler and Portnoy pulled out a 7-5 win in No. 2 doubles in the Big Red's 6-1 win over NCAA Division II Dallas Baptist. In the final match of the week at No. 8-ranked Emory, Mackler defeated Brandon Cohen 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) at No. 5 singles, while his only loss of the week was an 8-3 decision at No. 3 doubles with Portnoy against the Eagles. This is the third Athlete of the Week award this season for Denison men's tennis.

4/3/2023: Jack Bulger was a combined 7-2 (3-1 singles, 4-1 doubles) on the week, highlighted by wins of 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) at No. 1 singles over Rishil Kondapaneni (ranked No. 13 in the Central Region) and 8-0 with Marc-Lennart Harms at No. 1 doubles over Luis Platas and Eric Zhang (ranked No. 3 in the Central Region) during Denison's 7-2 win over No. 17 Kenyon College on Wednesday. Against Wittenberg University on Saturday, Bulger won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and won 8-3 with Anthony Payiavlas at No. 1 doubles. On Sunday, Bulger and Payiavlas won 8-3 against Ohio Wesleyan University and 8-5 against Otterbein University, both at No. 1 doubles, while Bulger also won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles against the Cardinals. Bulger's only losses on the week came against the No. 1 nationally-ranked team in the country, Case Western Reserve University, on Friday as Bulger fell 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles against James Hopper (ranked No. 1 in the Central Region) while he and Andy Mackler lost 8-1 at No. 1 doubles against Hopper and Vishwa Aduru (ranked No. 1 in the Central Region).

2023 NCAC Tournament Central
2023 NCAC Men's Tennis Standings

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