WEST WINDSOR, NJ (Apr. 25, 2025) – No. 5 Niagara University and No. 6 Rider University each secured upset wins during First Round action at the 2025 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Men’s Tennis Championship on Friday morning at Mercer County Park Tennis Center in West Windsor, NJ. Niagara defeated No. 4 Mount St. Mary’s University 4-1, and Rider edged No. 3 Fairfield University 4-2, to advance into the championship semifinal round.
No. 5 Niagara - 4 | No. 4 Mount St. Mary’s - 1
Mercer County Park Tennis Center | WEST WINDSOR, NJ
Score Sheet
No. 5 Niagara advanced to the semifinal match by way of a 4-1 upset win over Mount St. Mary’s in one of the first round matches of the day. The Purple Eagles opened the match by winning the doubles point with victories at the #3 and #1 slots to secure the early lead. Niagara’s Trevor Masi and Jose Maria Garcia Uribe defeated Mount’s Ryan Wagner and Aaron Thompson, 6-2 at the number three position to go ahead, then the topflight doubles of Tanner Bedard and Vid Maric of Niagara topped Akarsh Gaonkar and Alexi Roy, 6-4 to grab the point and give Niagara a 1-0 lead. In singles, the Purple Eagles jumped ahead 3-0 following back-to-back wins at the #5 and #6 positions, respectively. At #5, Jose Maria Garcia Uribe defeated Aaron Thompson, 6-3 6-3, while Gurustat Singh Makkar defeated Ryan Wagner 6-0 6-3 at #6. The Mount would score its lone point of the match at the #3 spot, by way of a 6-2 7-5 win from Alexi Roy over Trevor Masi. The match clinching point was decided at the singles topflight with Niagara’s Tanner Bedard taking down Mount’s Akarsh Gaonkar, 6-2 7-6. Niagara advances past the first round for the first time since 2009 and will play in the semis for the first time since 2022.
No. 6 Rider - 4 | No. 3 Fairfield - 2
Mercer County Park Tennis Center | WEST WINDSOR, NJ
Score Sheet
The final first round match of the morning was also an upset, with No. 6 Rider earning a 4-2 victory over No. 3 Fairfield. The Broncs secured the doubles point by edging the Stags 2-1. At #1 doubles, Fairfield’s duo of Alex Aguiar and Sam Hodges defeated Dhruv Tangri and Matteus Froberg Dahlin, 6-2 to give the Stags the edge. Rider would respond by winning the final two matches to clinch the doubles point starting at the #3 position with Cooper Dillon and Axel Engstrom defeating Andrew Immink and Kacper Krolikowski, 6-4, followed by the #2 position with Roger Pelaez Martinez and Cole Thurgur beating Luca Benaibbouche and Kostas Kollias, 6-4. Fairfield evened up the score at 1-1 to start singles, grabbing a win at the #4 position with Luca Benaibbouche defeating Nathan Slattery, 6-3 5-4. Rider regained the lead, going up 3-1 with back-to-back wins at #3 and #1 singles, respectively. At #3, Cole Thurgur beat Kostas Kollias, 6-3 6-4, and at #1, Dhruv Tangri defeated Sam Hodges, 6-2 7-5. The Stags cut their deficit to 3-2, earning a win at the #6 position behind a 6-2 5-7 6-2 victory from Alex Aguiar over Giacomo Ghitti. The deciding match ended with Rider’s Matteus Froberg Dahlin earning a come from behind 4-6 6-1 6-4 win over Calum Jessett at #2 singles, to give the Broncs the 4-2 victory. The win for Rider was the first ever in the MAAC postseason and the team returns to the semifinal round for the second straight season after qualifying last year when the format was four teams.
The 2025 MAAC Men's Tennis Championship semifinal round will take place tomorrow, Saturday April 26 with Niagara facing No. 1 Quinnipiac at 8:30 a.m. and Rider battling No. 2 Siena at 11:30 a.m.
For all information regarding the 2025 MAAC Men's & Women’s Tennis Championships, please visit
maacsports.com/tennis.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 13 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 44th year of competition during the 2024-25 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius University, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan University, Marist University, Merrimack College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Sacred Heart University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.
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