GREENCASTLE, Ind. (April 30, 2023) – The Denison University men's tennis team fell behind 2-1 after doubles and saw five of six singles matches go to a third-set, but the Big Red were able to grind out a 5-3 victory over Kenyon College to win the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship.
 
Notable Results:
Denison 5, Kenyon 3:
Doubles

• The Big Red fell behind 2-0 as Camden French and Ethan Green fell 8-5 to Paulo Pocasangre and Eliezer Gonzalez at No. 1 doubles while Zachary Portnoy and Andy Mackler also fell 8-5 to Luis Andres Platas and Rishil Kondapaneni at No. 3 doubles.
• Jack Bulger and Colin Gramley got Denison on the board with a narrow 8-7 (7-5) tiebreak win over Thomas Kallarakal and Eric Zhang at No. 2 doubles.

Singles

• Green wasted little time jumping out in front and rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Rakkan Audeh at No. 4 singles to tie the match at 2-2 overall.
• Each of the other singles matches went to three sets, starting with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 comeback win for Andreas Chapides over Pocasangre at No. 5 singles to give Denison its first lead of the day at 3-2.
• After falling in a tiebreaker in his first set, Mackler earned a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-3 comeback win of his own over Platas at No. 3 singles to get the Big Red to within one point of winning the match.
• At No. 1 singles, Bulger fell by a score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to Kondapaneni to allow the Owls to get back to within one down 4-3.
• In the deciding match at No. 6 singles, Portnoy had to stay with it all the way until the end of a tiebreaker in the third set. In the end, the junior transfer for the Big Red came out on top with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) victory over Zhang before he was joined by his teammates in celebration.
• In the remaining match at No. 2 singles, Jacob Patterson found himself with a narrow lead over Kallarakal in the third set, 6-4, 4-6, 5-4, before the match was ended with Portnoy's final point.

 
Record Book Watch:

• Freshman Andreas Chapides extended his new Denison single-season record for singles wins to 30.
• Chapides' 44 combined wins between singles and doubles this season are tied for the second most in a single season in program history, matching the number from teammate Marc-Lennart Harms in 2022. In addition, Zachary Portnoy's 43 combined win this season now rank as the fourth most in a single season in program history. The leader is Tim Cianciola with 55 combined wins last year.
• With his three doubles wins this weekend, Jack Bulger's 126 career combined wins rank second in program history and trail only Cianciola with 137 career combined wins.

 
Two Banners:

• In addition to celebrating its NCAC Tournament Championship, the Big Red also received the trophy and banner for their 2023 NCAC Regular-Season Championship, the third straight NCAC Championship season overall for the Big Red.
• This is the first year the North Coast Athletic Conference has sponsored separate regular-season and conference tournament championships.

 
Team Records:

• Denison improves to a program-best 25-3 overall and will enter the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship riding an 11-match winning streak. It will be the third year in a row for the Big Red competing at nationals.
• The Big Red were also a perfect 10-0 against opponents from the NCAC this season.
• Kenyon, meanwhile, sees its nine-match winning streak come to an end and falls to 14-10.

 
Next Up: Denison earns the NCAC's automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship, which is set to begin on Saturday, May 13, at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida. The championship field will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, May 1, on NCAA.com.