GORHAM, Maine – On Wednesday, May 5, the University of Southern Maine Huskies men's tennis team will travel to Danbury, Conn. for a Little East Conference semifinal match against Western Connecticut State University. The Huskies finished the regular season with a 2-4 record, and received the third seed, while West Conn finished at 4-2 and is seeded second.
The History: The Huskies are making their first trip to the Little East Conference tournament since 2016, when they claimed the team title and qualified for the NCAA tournament. Despite a string of conference championships from 2014-2016, the team has since been unable to crack the top six in the conference. Four teams will compete for the 2021 LEC Tournament Championship trophy, vying for the LEC's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship. Rhode Island College (6-0), the regular season champion, is the top seed and will host Castleton University in the other semifinal.
The Team: Led by senior captain and first singles player
Adam Papayoanou (Valencia, Calif./Hart), the Huskies have picked up a number of individual wins throughout the season. Papayoanou comes into the tournament with a 2-4 record at first singles. Also with two wins are
Cole Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston), who is 2-3 at second singles and
Ethan Rudnicki (Herrmon, Maine/Levant), who is 2-2 at fourth singles and 0-1 at fifth singles.
Shawn Gagnier (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston),
Jonathan Bartuccio-Pereira (St. Bruno, Quebec/Antoine-Girourard), and
Gabriel Couture (Boucherville, Quebec/Fadette) have each earned one win this season at second, third, and fifth singles, respectively.
Papayoanou and Ouellette are 2-3 at first doubles, while Bartuccio-Pereira and Couture are 1-2 at second doubles, and Rudnicki and Antoine Gignac (Quebec City, Quebec/St.Lawrence) are 0-2 at third doubles.
The Matchup: Given the double round robin format of conference play this year, the Huskies have seen WestConn twice already this season. In the first match of the season, Southern Maine traveled to Danbury and lost to West Conn 9-0. While they weren't able to come away with the win, a majority of the matches were very competitive. At first doubles, Papayoanou and Ouellette pushed Aaron Campos and Matthew Carino to a tiebreaker, but ended up dropping their match 8-7 (7-3). The third doubles team of Gignac and Couture put up a strong match against Will Hogan and Sebastian Frisch, before narrowly falling 8-6.
In a rematch against WestConn at the end of April, the Huskies improved upon their earlier performance when Ouellette managed to come away with a win at second singles. At fifth singles, Couture pushed his opponent to a tiebreaker in the third set and was a part of the team at second doubles, with Bartuccio-Pereira, that almost came away with a victory, losing 8-7 (7-2). If the Huskies can string together a number of strong performances, it should be a very competitive match for a trip to the Little East Conference championship.
