MAAC Announces 2021 Men’s Tennis Major Award Winners and All-MAAC Teams
EDISON, NJ (April 23, 2021) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has announced the 2021 Men’s Tennis Major Award Winners and All-MAAC Teams.
The 2021 MAAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Year is Kaya Gore of Fairfield University. Gore finished the season 6-1 in singles play from the No. 1 spot and going 5-0 in MAAC play. He was also named to the All-MAAC First Team at the No.1 spot in Singles and the No. 1 spot in Doubles with his partner Stathis Tsiranidis.
Keean Shah of Fairfield University is the 2021 MAAC Men’s Tennis Rookie of the Year. The rookie finished with an overall record of 4-2 and was 4-0 MAAC play. All of Shah’s win came from the No. 5 spot. The No. 5 spot is also where Shah was selected to on the All-MAAC First Team.
Monmouth’s Chris Leicht has won his second consecutive BSN Sports Men’s Tennis Coach of Year. After taking home the award in 2019, Leicht followed it up by guiding the Hawks to a 12-2 overall record and a 5-0 MAAC. The Hawks under Leicht won their MAAC matches by a combined score of 31-3. Monmouth
The All-MAAC First-Team was led by Monmouth’s six selections. In Singles the Hawks saw Max Benaim take the No. 2 spot, Lucca Silva earn the No. 3 spot, Victor Castro claim the No. 4 spot and Gabreil Busato take home the No. 6 spot. In doubles the Hawks earned the No. 2 and No. 3 spot by Castro and Silva and William Cooke Wharton and Charles Gortzounian respectively. Fairfield earned the other three selections taking home the No. 1 spot in singles and doubles with Kaya Gore taking the singles honors and Gore and Stathis Tsiranidis taking the doubles honors. Shah also earned the singles No. 5 spot
The All-MAAC Second Team had representatives from Monmouth, Fairfield and Quinnipiac. On the Singles side, Monmouth’s Cooke Wharton took home the No. 1 spot, Fairfield’s Tsiranidis and Jonathan Olive-Blanco took home the No. 2 and No. 3 spots respectively. Quinnipiac’s Patrick Cachapero and Fairfield’s Lewis Edwards each earned a share of the No. 4 spot. Monmouth’s Sergio Martinez took home the No. 5 spot and Quinnipiac’s Austin Yannone rounded out the All-MAAC Second Team in the No. 6 spot. In doubles Monmouth’s Benaim and Martinez earned the No. 1 spot. Fairfield’s Shah and Olive-Blanco and Quinnipiac’s Yannone and Aleksa Martinovic earned a share of the No. 2 spot. Allan Magid and Edwards of Fairfield took home the final doubles No. 3 spot.
The 2021 MAAC Men’s and Women’s Championship will be held at Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor, New Jersey. Semifinal action begins Saturday, April 24 with No. 1 Monmouth taking on No. 4 Marist and No. 2 Fairfield taking on No. 3 Quinnipiac. Both men’s semifinal matches are set to start at 10:00 a.m. The finals will take place the day after, April 25, with the women’s match beginning at 2:00 p.m. and the men’s match starting at 10:00 a.m. For more information on the 2020-21 MAAC Tennis Championships, visit maacsports.com/tennis.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) celebrates its 40th year of competition during the 2020-21 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.