WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The Niagara Purple Eagles were denied in a marathon-like match against the defending MAAC Tournament champion Fairfield Stags, 4-3, on Saturday.

The third-seeded Purple Eagles (14-10) and second-seeded Stags (13-8) met in the MAAC Semifinals for the fifth time in the last six tournaments. Today’s match may have been the most intense of them all.

NU started the better of the two teams as it attempted to snap its nine-match skip to Fairfield by beating the Stags at their specialty…doubles.  All-MAAC Second Team performers Olivier Dufour-Coursol and David Raymond cruised to an 8-2 win for the first point of the match. Fairfield answered by taking No. 2 doubles, 8-2, but three doubles was a nail-biter.

The team of Brandon Gallegos and Mathieu Lacasse held on to beat first team selection Erik Kremheller and George Tioutine, 8-6, to win the doubles point for Niagara. It was the first time Fairfield lost a doubles point to a conference opponent since losing to Marist in the 2011 MAAC Championship Match.

The doubles point for Niagara meant the Purple and White needed to win only three singles matches to advance to the final. The Stags quickly tied the match at 1-1 when Dufour-Coursol was upset in straight sets by Kremheller.

Lorenz Schwojer had little trouble with Dennis Zlobinsky in four singles by winning 6-1, 6-1 for his 18th win of the season. The Purple Eagles led 2-1 after the first two completed singles matches, but found themselves down 3-2 after falling in five and one singles in straight sets.

Niagara needed to win the last two ongoing matches, Lacasse in six singles and Raymond in two singles. Raymond dropped the first set, 6-3, but rallied to take the second set 6-4. Lacasse won the first set 7-5 and was up 5-2 in the second set when Cameron Amyot battled to force a tiebreaker. Lacasse was able to outlast Amyot in the tiebreaker, 11-9. However, approximately one minute after the conclusion of the Lacasse match, Raymond lost to George Tioutine in the third set 6-2.

“Today was a heartbreaking loss for the guys,” MAAC Coach of the Year Anthony Nguyen said. “We found a way to win the doubles point and felt good going into singles.  Unfortunately, we had some slow starts and ultimately we fell short. We battled to the end, but it wasn’t enough. We are sad to see Brandon (Gallegos) leave. He really helped put the program where it is today. He is a ferocious competitor and we will miss having him and his fight spirit around the team next year.”

NU finishes the season with a 14-10 record which ties the 2002-03 squad for the second most wins in program history. 

Fairfield 4, Niagara 3
Singles competition
1. Tesmond, Ian (FFD) def. Elortequi,Michael (NIA) 6-4, 6-3
2. Tioutine, George (FFD) def. Raymond,David (NIA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
3. Kremheller, Erik (FFD) def. Dufour-Coursol,O. (NIA) 6-3, 6-0
4. Schwoier,Lorenz (NIA) def. Zlobinsky, Dennis (FFD) 6-1, 6-1
5. Solomon, Ofir (FFD) def. Gallegos,Brandon (NIA) 6-2, 6-2
6. Lacasse,Mathieu (NIA) def. Amyot, Cameron (FFD) 7-5, 7-6 (11-9)

Doubles competition
1. Raymond,David/Dufour-Coursol,O. (NIA) def. Zlobinsky, Dennis/Solomon, Ofir (FFD) 8-2
2. Tesmond, Ian/Amyot, Cameron (FFD) def. Elortequi,Michael/Schwoier,Lorenz (NIA) 8-2
3. Gallegos,Brandon/Lacasse,Mathieu (NIA) def. Kremheller, Erik/Tioutine, George (FFD) 8-6

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,4,5,1,6,2)