Men's Tennis

Central Islip, N.Y. – The men's tennis coaches of the East Coast Conference predict NYIT will extend their run of conference titles to five straight in the 2017 ECC Preseason Poll. NYIT senior, Matej Selecky (Bratislava, Slovakia), has also been selected as the Preseason Player of the Year..

NYIT was nearly an unanimous pick for the top spot, receiving five of six first place votes for 35 points. Queens College, who has been runner-up to NYIT in each of the past three seasons, received the final first place vote to finish second in the poll with 31 points. University of the District of Columbia rounds out the top three with 22 points.

NYIT has a conference winning streak (regular season and post-season) of 27 straight matches heading in to the 2017 season. Their last conference loss came during the 2013 season. During the 2016 season, the Bears also earned a spot in the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals for the first time in program history. They also ran their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to five and advanced to at least the Round of 16 for the fourth year in a row. NYIT, who returns seven players from last year's squad, also begins the season ranked No. 30 in the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Rankings.

A three-time All-Conference selection, Selecky begins his final season at NYIT as the conference's reigning Player of the Year. He finished the 2016 campaign with an overall record of 16-3 in singles and 18-5 in doubles. Selecky continued his success with a  strong fall season in which he won the ITA East Region Singles Tournament to advance to the ITA Oracle Cup (formerly known as the Small College Nationals). In addition, Selecky begins the 2017 season ranked nationally by the ITA in both singles and doubles. He currently is the No. 9 ranked singles player and along with teammate, Jorge Gonzales Soler, ranks No. 13 in doubles.

2017 ECC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll

( ) - first place votes

Preseason Player of the Year: Matej Selecky, Sr., NYIT