The Niagara tennis programs will visit the metro New York area to face the Wagner Seahawks on Friday and conference foe Saint Peter’s on Saturday.
The Niagara men (9-6, 3-0 MAAC) and women (9-5, 4-0 MAAC) have been rolling as of late. The men are on a five-match winning streak, which is their longest since winning five straight last season, while the women have won five of their last six matches heading into this weekend.
NU’s win streak on the men side has been buoyed by multiple individual streaks.
Olivier Dufour-Coursol, who leads the team with a 16-6 singles record, is on a five-match winning streak and is 8-2 in his last 10 matches. He is 9-0 in No. 3 singles and was named MAAC Player of the Week on March 19.
Lorenz Schwojer also has a five-match win streak in singles and is 13-5 on the season. Team captain
Brandon Gallegos has won his last four matches and
Mathieu Lacasse and
David Raymond has won three straight. The top three doubles team have all won at least three consecutive matches, led by the No. 3 duo of Lacasse and
Michael Elortegui.
The women have benefited from the addition of freshman
Sarah Hellstern, who joined the team at the start of the spring season. The Stuttgart, Germany native is 12-0 in singles and has been named MAAC Player of the Week twice. Her doubles partner,
Iva Celan, was named MAAC Player of the Week on March 19 after going 4-0 in singles and doubles matches versus Siena and Loyola. The No. 1 doubles tandem of
Hilary Hansen and
Maria Ortiz lead the team with a 9-3 record. NU sits in first place in the conference with a 4-0 record for its best start since going unbeaten in MAAC play (7-0) during the 2008-09 season.
