Claremont, Calif.- Under the blue sky of sunny California, the No. 2 Denison University men's tennis team earned the program's first Elite Eight victory, after defeating No. 8 Johns Hopkins University 4-3 in a battle for the ages to advance to the NCAA Final Four. This 4-3 win came down to the first-year Nick Meyers fighting off four match points to clinch the victory for the Big Red.
Up Next: No. 2 Denison takes on the No. 3 Tufts on Tuesday, May 20 at 8 p.m. EDT. Watch whip-around coverage of the tournament HERE.

The Big Red stepped onto the courts of the Biszantz Family Tennis Center to take on No. 8 Johns Hopkins University in the Elite Eight with confidence. The last time the two teams saw each other was this season in March on the very same courts, where Denison defeated the then No. 19 Blue Jays 4-1 to wrap up its stint at the Stag Hen Tourney.

This time around Johns Hopkins kept the match much closer, despite losing the doubles point, the Blue Jays were just at the cusp of upsetting Denison but the tenacity of first-year Nick Meyers kept the Big Red's season alive.

In doubles play the Big Red held off the Blue Jays in similar fashion to their first head-to-head, even after giving up more points across the three courts. Earning the first doubles win was Andreas Chapides and Nick Meyers on court three. The duo defeated Mukundh Boopathi and Marco Azar 6-2. Clinching the doubles point for Denison was No. 2 doubles partners Ethan Green and Kael Shah, who beat the No. 8 doubles patterns in the nation Daniel Ardila and Dylan Blenkiron 6-3, on court one.

Kael Shah put the Big Red up by two early, after defeating his court two opponent Daniel Ardila 6-2, 6-2. The Blue Jays would cut into Denison's lead after Andreas Chapides fell to Johns Hopkins' Allen Gong 6-4, 6-2. Things would get interesting for the two teams after the Blue Jays' Marco Azar held off Anthony Payiavlas 7-5, 6-3 to knot the match up at two points apiece. In a back and forth battle on court one, Ethan Green fell to Chakor Rajendra 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on court one, giving up a 3-2 lead. With just two matches left Denison locked back in, with junior Jacob Patterson tying the two teams at three points each, after defeating Dylan Blenkiron 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 on court three. With just one match to determine who would punch their ticket to the final four, court five's match was cinematic. Nick Meyers opened his singles match with a close 6-7 set one loss to Zahari Stoimenov. Meyers would storm back in the second set beating Stoimenov 6-1, and in the third and final set Meyers fought off four match point opportunities to defeat his opponent 7-6 (7-5) to lift the Big Red past the Blue Jays.

Head Coach David Schilling shared, "I am really proud of the guys. They found a way to win a match- we probably should have lost. To have Nick (Meyers) clinch the match as a first year player in the quarterfinals of the NCAAs is an unbelievable performance. However, we cannot spend any time patting ourselves on the back. We need to bounce back tomorrow versus Tufts."

This 4-3 victory is the first Elite Eight win in program history, and marks the furthest Denison has gone as a team in the NCAA tournament since last year, when the team bowed out after falling to the 2024 national championship team University of Chicago. The 26-2 Big Red will take to the courts once again on Tuesday to face Tufts University for the first time since they last faced off in 2019.

#2 Denison 4, #8 Johns Hopkins 3
Singles competition
1. #28 Chakor Rajendra (JHUM) def. #4 Ethan Green (DENM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
2. #3 Kael Shah (DENM) def. Daniel Ardila (JHUM) 6-2, 6-2
3. #20 Jacob Patterson (DENM) def. Dylan Blenkiron (JHUM) 7-6, 3-6, 6-3
4. Allen Gong (JHUM) def. Andreas Chapides (DENM) 6-4, 6-2
5. Nick Meyers (DENM) def. Zahari Stoimenov (JHUM) 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Marco Azar (JHUM) def. Anthony Payiavlas (DENM) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. #2 Ethan Green/Kael Shah (DENM) def. #8 Daniel Ardila/Dylan Blenkiron (JHUM) 6-3
2. #16 Colin Gramley/Jacob Patterson (DENM) vs. Chakor Rajendra/Allen Gong (JHUM) 4-4, unfinished
3. Andreas Chapides/Nick Meyers (DENM) def. Mukundh Boopathi/Marco Azar (JHUM) 6-2


Match Notes:
Johns Hopkins 16-9; National ranking #8
Denison 26-2; National ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (,2,4,6,1,3,5)
NCAA Division III Quarterfinals
T-3:48 A-275