WEST WINDSOR, NJ – Cole Thurgur (Ottawa, Ontario/Nepean) won at both singles and doubles as the sixth-seeded Rider University men's tennis team knocked off third-seeded Fairfield, 4-2, in the opening round of the MAAC Men's Tennis Championships Friday at Mercer County Tennis Center. With the win, the Broncs (10-13) advance to face second-seeded Siena in tomorrow's semifinals, to be played indoors at the Mercer County Tennis Center at 11:30 a.m.

The Broncs picked up the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. Roger Martinez (Girona, Spain/Saint George's School) and Thurgur defeated Luca Benaibbouche and Kostas Kollias, 6-4, to clinch the point at No. 2, while Axel Engstrom and Cooper Dillon (Brisbane, Australia/Laurel Springs) also earned a 6-4 win at No. 3 over Andrew Immink and Kacper Krolikowski.

The Stags evened the match with a win at No. 4, before Thurgur finished off a straight-sets victory over Kollias, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 3. Dhruv Tangri (Punjab, India/Cambridge International School) got the Broncs to within a win of the match victory with a 6-2, 7-5 decision over Sam Hodges at No. 1. After Fairfield pulled to within 3-2 with a three-set victory at No. 6, Matteus Froberg Dahlin (Lidingo, Sweden/Hersby Gymnasium) then battled back from down a set to defeat Calum Jessett, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 2 to punch the Broncs' ticket to the semifinals.

The win is the Broncs' first-ever at MAAC Championships. Decided by a point system and individual play for the Broncs' first seven years in the league (1997-98 through 2006-07) and moved to dual match format from 2008-10 with all teams qualifying, the Broncs fell in the opening round in each of those years. With the tournament changing to a four-team format from 2011-24, Rider qualified for the first time in 2024, but fell to the top-seeded Stags in the opening round.