PSAC Championship Central
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University men's tennis team will begin competition in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships, beginning Friday, April 21 at 2:30 p.m. at Bloomsburg's Burt Reese Tennis Center.
The four-team championships will begin with the PSAC semifinals on Friday, when the No. 4 Golden Bears (3-12, 2-3 PSAC) will face off against top-seeded Edinboro (14-5, 5-0 PSAC).
The winner of the Kutztown-Edinboro matchup will go on to face the winner of the second-seeded Mercyhurst and third-seeded Bloomsburg match in the PSAC Championship on Saturday, April 22 at 12 p.m.
The Golden Bears look to avenge a 9-0 setback they encountered in their previous PSAC matchup against Edinboro on April 9. Despite pulling within close margins in many of the sets, Edinboro came out on top to sweep the Maroon and Gold at Keystone Courts.
Josh Carl (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) won a team-high nine games at No. 5 singles, with set one going to tiebreakers in favor of Edinboro.
The duo of
Martin Munoz (Las Palmas, Spain/Claret (Post)) and
Nikolay Kodinov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria/Model High School of Mathematics) have had remarkable performances on the court this season. Munoz has been a strong competitor for KU, holding a team-high 7-9 singles record in his debut season with the Golden Bears. Paired with
Joan Oliver Perez (Andratx, Spain/IES Baltasar Porcel) and
David Nunez Contreras (Madrid, Spain/Mater Immaculata), he went 3-9 in doubles action in the 2016-17 season.
Kodinov has also made positive impressions in his junior campaign as a Golden Bear. He currently holds a 5-10 record in singles action on the season, second on the team, along with a team-high seven victories alongside his partner
Gabriel Nogara Souza (Curitiba, Brazil/Dom Bosco).
Despite starting the season without making an appearance in singles, Kodinov progressed to Kutztown's No. 1 singles player for the final five regular-season matches.
The potential match against second-seeded Mercyhurst (12-9, 4-1 PSAC) will be the Maroon and Gold's second this season, after Mercyhurst pulled away for a 7-2 victory against KU on April 8.
The two teams previously met in PSAC semifinal contention in 2015, with the Lakers earning the win.
The Lakers are led by Nenad Terzic, currently 18-8 in singles and 24-6 in doubles play.
The Maroon and Gold recently competed against Bloomsburg (6-9, 3-2 PSAC) in the regular season, falling to the Huskies in a close 5-4 decision on April 11. Holding on to the three seed by a narrow margin, the Huskies won one of the two singles matches sent to three sets, securing the victory.
Kodinov and Nogara Souza each won both of their matches, while also pairing for the first time in a 9-8 triumph over Bloomsburg at No. 1 doubles.
Pedro Andari leads the Huskies on the season with an 11-3 record in singles and 10-3 in doubles.
Following the PSAC Championships, selection for the NCAA Atlantic Regionals will begin on Tuesday, April 25.
