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Men’s Tennis Aim for NEAC/NAC Titles
March 26, 2010
Junior Patrick Barker will lead the Storm once again in 2010.
Coach Matt Tantalo hopes youth will be served in 2010. He must replace three of his six players after a 4-7 overall and 1-3 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) mark a season ago.
The Storm will try to win both the NEAC title as well as the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) title before they can play in the NCAA Tournament like the women’s tennis squad did in 2009. The NEAC and NAC have joined forces a in a few sports this Spring including baseball, women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s tennis.
Junior and All-NEAC third team selection Patrick Barker (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) is the team’s top returning veteran. Barker went 3-8 overall while playing in the No. 1 singles spot and posted a 6-5 mark in doubles action.
Senior Mike Fischer (Kattskill Bay, N.Y./Lake George) also returns after going 4-6 in the No. 3 singles slot. Fischer will probably team up with Barker as Keuka’s top doubles team after going 4-7 in doubles in 2009.
Junior Blaine Phair (Pembroke, NH/Pembroke) will be back after a 4-5 sophomore campaign in No. 5 singles. Phair and senior Casey Dahlstrom (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) posted the team’s best doubles mark while going 6-4 in the No. 3 doubles.
Senior Ryan Ellingworth (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Grimes) will look to crack the Storm’s top-six this season.
New to the squad will be sophomore Brian Oberg (Lino Lakes, MN/Centennial), brother of Andy Oberg, the most prolific men’s tennis player in the program’s young history.
Also new to the team is sophomore Kyle Stephens (Odessa, N.Y./Odessa-Montour) and freshman Kyle Rivera (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads).
Keuka begins its season with a home conference match against Penn State-Harrisburg on Saturday, March 27. The NEAC Championships will be played in Clarks Summit, Pa. on April 24-25 while the NAC Championships will be played in Latham, NY on May 1.
