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04/25/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/25/2024 13:23

Men’s Tennis Team on a Quest for First Patriot League Title

Men's Tennis Team on a Quest for First Patriot League Title

Tournament top-seed Terriers travel to West Point for four-day tournament this weekend

Members of the BU men's tennis team preparing to go up against Bentley on February 11. Photos by Michael Last/BU Athletics

Athletics

Men's Tennis Team on a Quest for First Patriot League Title

Tournament top-seed Terriers travel to West Point for four-day tournament this weekend

April 25, 2024
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Last year, the Boston University men's tennis team reached its first-ever Patriot League championship match, but fell 4-0 to then top-seeded Navy. This year, the Terriers have posted a perfect 6-0 record in conference play and are the No. 1 seed entering this weekend's four-day conference tournament at Army West Point's Malek Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y.

The Terriers begin play in the tournament quarterfinal on Friday. Each round will stage nine possible matches. Three doubles matches are played first, with the school that wins two of three clinching the round's first point. Then, a possible six singles matches will be played-each singles match is worth one additional point. The school earning four total points will win the matchday.

Dejan Stankovic (Wheelock'08,'11,'15), men's tennis head coach, says he is confident about the program's chances of capturing its first-ever Patriot League title.

"I know we're really good," Stankovic says. "For other teams to challenge us, they're going to have to be at their best. I am definitely not underestimating the competition, but I think we're playing really well, so I'm feeling pretty good going into this tournament."

Last year's third-place regular season finish was the first top-3 Patriot League finish for the BU men's tennis program since 2016, earning them their first-ever PL championship match appearance. The Terriers have not won a conference championship since 1996, when they played in the America East conference.

"We haven't won a conference tournament in decades," Stankovic says. "So maybe there's some type of a target on our back, but [we have] more of a sense that we've got a really good shot."

Cocaptain Owen Voigt (Questrom'24) says he's seen the program improve from a 3-18 record in 2021 to this year's 18-7 finish. He says that while the roster hasn't changed significantly during his four years at BU, the team's confidence has more than doubled.

"We've had pretty much the same guys for the past three years," Voigt says. I think our confidence in ourselves and our teammates has grown a lot. We all believe in each other. I am the oldest guy on the team, and I've seen it all-I haven't been on a team where it was like this before, where we all just believe in ourselves. Every single match that we play, we know that we are the better players."

Cocaptain Owen Voigt (Questrom'24) rallies against Bentley on February 11.

Headlining the Terriers best finish during their Patriot League tenure is six-time PL Player of the Week Corey Craig (CAS'26). The reigning PL Rookie of the Year went undefeated in his four most recent matches, against Lehigh on April 12 and Army-West Point on April 14.

Although Craig has set the Patriot League record for weekly accolades in a single season, Voigt and Stankovic agree that the team's biggest asset has been its willingness to come together-a rarity in such an individual sport as tennis.

"It can be pretty difficult to get a group of 8 to 10 individuals to work together towards one goal, but I've never seen a team where we're as together as we are on this team," Voigt says. "What's different is that we all believe in each other. I tell the guys, and what our coaches say is: everybody can bring value during a tennis match, no matter if you have a racket in your hands or not."

Stankovic lauds his team, but reserves special commendation for cocaptain Voigt.

"Owen is one of those guys that just gets the team going," the coach says. "He's so selfless-he'll do anything for the team to win. And I feel like you can't find a player like that too often. So the culture of our team is a lot better because we have a captain who demonstrates that and walks the walk every single day."

Voigt says he's focused on getting his teammates prepped for a successful weekend in West Point. "I'm just just trying to get everybody excited," he says. "This year, we have a target on our back, which we haven't had in the past couple of years. Being the number one seed and beating all of these top teams already this season and going to the tournament undefeated, everybody wants another shot at us. So we have to be ready for other teams to punch us back.

"But I think that we will be able to handle any team that comes our way. So I'm just getting everybody to be super confident in themselves and making sure that we'll be able to work together over this next week to bring it home."

The Boston University men's tennis team will begin play in the 2024 Patriot League Championship Tournament on Friday, April 26, at Army West Point's Malek Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y. Live statistics will be posted on goterriers.com and updates will be posted live via Twitter @BUGameDay and @TerrierTennis.

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  • Charles Moore (COM'24)

    Charles Moore (COM'24) is pursuing a degree in journalism with a minor in history. He works in the Worcester Red Sox front office and is the Head Delegate for BU's competitive Model United Nations Team. Charles is from Wayland, MA., and has seen a home game of all 30 Major League Baseball teams. He can be reached at [email protected]. Profile

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