Box Score GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 24, 2024) – For the fourth time in four seasons under the direction of Head Coach David Schilling, the top-seeded and No. 9 nationally-ranked Denison University men's tennis team hoisted the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship trophy as the Big Red defeated second-seeded and No. 24-ranked Kenyon College 5-1 at the Denison Tennis Courts on Sunday afternoon.
 
Notable Results:
Denison 5, Kenyon 1:
Doubles

• The No. 18 nationally-ranked doubles pair of Ethan Green and Kael Shah got off to a fast start with a 3-0 lead at No. 1 doubles and went on to win 8-2 over Gianluca Bocanegra and Paulo Pocasangre.
• Zachary Portnoy and Colin Gramley were defeated 8-3 by Rishil Kondapaneni and Eric Zhang at No. 2 doubles, tying the match at 1-1.
• The No. 10-ranked doubles pair in the Central Region, Andy Mackler and Jacob Patterson, battled to the very brink against the paring of Eliezer Gonzalez and Alejandro Gonzalez at No. 3 doubles and ultimately pulled out an 8-7 (7-5) tiebreak victory to make it 2-1 Big Red after doubles.

Singles

• Mackler defeated E. Gonzalez 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.
• Patterson defeated Pocasangre 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
• The clincher was a 6-3, 6-2 win from Ryan Patrick over Bocanegra at No. 4 singles.

 
Team Records:

• Sunday's championship battle between Denison and Kenyon was the fifth consecutive season (excluding the pandemic-shortened seasons) the two have played for the conference title and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
• With the win, Denison will enter the national tournament with a 19-4 overall record.
• Denison finished a perfect 10-0 against teams from the NCAC for the second season in a row and improved to 8-0 when playing at home this season. The Big Red are hopeful to potentially earn a chance to host their regional rounds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
• Kenyon, meanwhile, falls to 14-8 overall after losing to Denison in the NCAC Tournament Championship for the third season in a row.

 
Record Book Watch:
Single-Season Combined Wins:

• With his win in both singles and doubles on Sunday, Andy Mackler (57-5) officially breaks the program record for combined wins in one season. The previous record was 55 combined wins from Tim Cianciola in 2022.

 
Next Up: Denison earns the NCAC's automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship. The championship field will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, May 6, on NCAA.com.