Terriers capture first-ever tennis title

SFC Brooklyn defeats Fairleigh Dickinson in NEC Final

April 19, 2023 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The St. Francis Brooklyn men's tennis team captured its first NEC title Sunday in its final season of existence. Photo courtesy of SFC Brooklyn Athletics

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The St. Francis Brooklyn men’s tennis team saved its best for last.

Last season, that is.

Founded in 2005, the Terriers had to wait until Sunday morning’s Northeast Conference Final in West Windsor, N.J., to call themselves champions.

Graduate student and NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player Luis Foix Sotos nailed down the title with his 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 singles victory over Fairleigh Dickinson’s Younes Adnane to give SFC a 4-2 triumph.

“We are Brooklyn tough,” Terriers head coach and program founder Chad Davis said. “Words cannot describe this moment and what it means to us.

“We’ve had so many obstacles and difficulties this year and this is sweet. It’s an incredible feeling,” added Davis.

Even more incredible that it was the team’s final year of existence after the diminutive Franciscan school announced last month that it was dropping its entire athletics program after more than a century of NCAA competition.

The Terriers started the historic day with a pair of doubles wins as the teams of Assil Boussayri and Habib Stambouli and Foix Sotos and Matheus Paiva coasted to 6-1 and 6-2 wins, respectively.

That only earned SFC a point, but the final three singles victories, each of which went three sets, put the Terriers over the top.

Leon Harder grabbed the first singles point, splitting the first two sets before blanking the Knights’ Gryffin Minor, 6-0 in the third.

Jan Godfrey Seno needed to come from behind to pull out a 6-3 victory in the decisive set in No. 1 singles against Justas Trainauskas.

Foix Sotos broke Adnane in what proved to be the final game of the season and the history of the program after his opponent double faulted, setting off a wild celebration.

Harden, Foix Sotos and Seno were all named to the All Tournament team for the Terriers (10-11, 6-1 NEC), who had to get past Long Island University, 4-2, in Saturday’s semifinal at the Mercer County Tennis Center.

SFC finished its championship year on a four-match winning streak, one it sadly won’t get to resume in 2024.

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The LIU women’s tennis team is NCAA Tournament bound after capturing the NEC crown Sunday in West Windsor, N.J. Photo courtesy of LIU Athletics

The LIU women’s squad punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament Sunday with a 4-0 blanking of second-seeded Sacred Heart in the NEC Championships in West Windsor.

Leo Boisseau’s 6-2, 7-6 win at second singles closed out the match and Victoria Erechtchenko, who won in first singles, was named the tournament MVP while joining Boisseau and Oyama on the all-tournament team.

The NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships will be held May 17-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. The Sharks will wait to find out their opponent.

LIU (12-10, 4-0) topped the SFC women in the semifinals, 4-0, on Saturday.

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Danielle Guzzardi pitched Brooklyn College to a pair of wins over Lehman College in the Bronx on Tuesday afternoon. Photo courtesy of BC Athletics

The Brooklyn College women’s softball team ran its season-high winning streak to six games Tuesday by sweeping a doubleheader from Lehman College, 10-1 and 6-3, at South Field in the Bronx.

Sophomore Danielle Guzzardi (9-11) scattered seven hits and struck out nine over six innings to pitch the Bullldogs (9-12, 4-2 CUNYAC) to their first win over Lehman since 2015 in the opener.

Guzzardi struck out 11 batters over seven innings in the nightcap to earn her second victory of the day as Isabellle Frank drove in a pair of key runs for BC, which will be back in action Friday against Sarah Lawrence College at Brooklyn College Field.