College Tennis
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships
Men: #2 Marist College 7, #7 Rider University 0
Women: #1 Niagara University 7, #8 Rider University 0
Five Broncs MAAC All-Academic Honors
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y.?The Rider University men's and women's 2008-09 season came to an end in the quarter-finals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships, held at the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. "It was fun for the teams to experience the National Tennis Center in New York," said head coach Ed Torres.
Second seeded Marist defeated the Rider (3-16, 0-6 MAAC) men 7-0. For the Broncs, senior Casey Jedlinski (Manalapan) won five games at number one singles before losing in straight sets in the final match of his collegiate career. Jedlinski finished the season 11-7, including a seven match winning streak earlier this season.
“Marist is a perennial power in the conference,” Torres said. “We gave it our all but were out-matched."
Also for the Rider men, junior Will Haight (Sewell/Washington Township) and sophomore Christopher Esposito (Ocean Grove/Neptune) each won four games at second and four singles before losing in straight sets.
The Red Foxes defeated Rider 7-0 in Poughkeepsie, New York on October 2, 2008.
Top seeded Niagara defeated the Rider (3-14, 0-7 MAAC) women 7-0. For the Broncs, junior Kristina Paich (Stanhope/Lenape Valley Regional) won four games at number two singles before losing 6-1, 6-3. Paich and doubles partner senior Danielle Morse (Edison/Hopewell Valley) took the first doubles match to a tie breaker before losing 8-7 (7-3).
“The women played a very, very strong team,” Torres said. “I think they represented Rider very well against a strong opponent, especially Morse who teamed with Paich for an excellent doubles effort. They faced a strong opponent and took them to a tie-breaker.”
The Purple Eagles defeated Rider on March 8, 2009 also by a 7-0 score.
“Danielle played well in her last match,” Torres added. “I though she out did herself and it was a great showing. All of the players played as hard as they could.”
Five members of the Rider tennis teams earned MAAC All-Academic honors. From the women's team, sophomore Amanda Matticks (Sewell/Washington Township), Morse and sophomore Stephanie Renzo (Lincroft/Middletown HS South) were honored for a grade point average over a 3.20 with sophomore Kyle Breen (Bensalem, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) and junior Alex D'Amico (Clark/Arthur L. Johnson) from the men's team also honored.
Matticks is an Elementary Education/Psychology major with a 3.93 g.p.a, Morse is a Business Administration major with a 3.30 g.p.a. and Renzo is an Accounting major with a 3.80 g.p.a.
Breen is a Secondary Education/History major with a 3.55 g.p.a. and D'Amico is an Entrepreneurial Studies major with a 3.94 g.p.a. D'Amico is a two-time Andrew J. Rider scholar (top one percent of his class) who was recently elected to his second term as the treasurer of the Rider Student Government Association.
Head coach Ed Torres completed his 14th season at the helm of the Broncs with 199 career wins.
“We have five or six recruits on the men's side coming in and on the women's side, we have two recruits and a walk-on and that should make us stronger,” Torres said. “We had a lot of our players playing up a spot, higher than they normally would and while that will make us stronger, we took some lumps this season. The future looks bright and I am very optimistic. We only lose two players so we should rebound well from a tough season.”
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