Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (September 19) – FDU-Florham men's tennis sophomore Matthew Emery (Howell, NJ)claimed gold in the No. 6 singles bracket and two other student-athletes reached their bracket's championship final at this weekend's Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Individual Championship.
 
Emery is the first FDU-Florham men's tennis student-athlete since 2008 to win an individual singles gold medal at the MAC Individual Championship. In 2008, Wes Harnett won the No. 6 singles individual title at the conference event.
 
Emery defeated Luke Thatcher of Arcadia, 4-0, 4-1, in the opening round and then came from a set down to beat Will Harriger of Lebanon Valley, 1-4, 4-0, 10-5 in the quarterfinal round. On Sunday, Emery eased by Rodneil Senson of Wilkes, 6-0, 6-2 to reach the championship match against top-seeded Eloi Pradier of Stevens. It was Emery who came out on top in a three-set thriller, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 to win gold.
 
In the No. 2 singles bracket, junior Zach Puccia (Red Bank, NJ) was the runner-up as the second-seeded student-athlete in the bracket of 16. Puccia won all three of his matches in straight sets as he topped Cody Greenaway of Lycoming, 4-0, 4-1, Connor Rose of Messiah, 4-0, 4-1 and Evan Stehman of York, 6-2, 6-0. 
 
In the No. 5 singles bracket first-year Ronald Duval (Old Bridge, NJ) was the runner-up as the second-seeded student-athlete in the bracket of 16. Duval edged Michael Sell of Messiah, 4-3 (7-1), 4-0, Hayden Musser of York, 4-1, 4-1 and Sathwik Madasi of Stevenson, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the championship final against top-seeded Olof Persson of Stevens.
 
In the No. 1 singles bracket, junior Joni Carasso (Buenos Aires, Argentina) came from behind as the fourth seed to defeat Zach Hemond of Misericordia, 3-4 (7-5), 4-1, 12-10, but could not finish his quarterfinal match due to injury.

In the No. 4 singles bracket, third-seeded junior Jacob Mostoller (Mullica Hill, NJ) blanked Jeffrey Fleming, 4-0, 4-0 in the first round, but fell to Jaden Bonta of Stevenson, 4-2, 4-0 in the quarterfinal. In the No. 3 singles bracket, junior Kaya Esgun (Maplewood, NJ) fell to Adam Warren, 4-2, 4-0 in the first round, while in the No. 7 singles bracket, graduate student Tyler Schacher (Blooming Grove, NY) fell to Connor Frey of Wilkes 4-3 (9-7), 2-4, 10-7 in the quarterfinal round after he received a first round bye.
 
In the No. 1 doubles bracket, the second-seeded duo of Carasso and Puccia topped the Noble brothers from Arcadia as well as Larry Johnson III and Ben Porto of Stevenson, 8-3, to reach he semifinal round.
 
In the No. 3 doubles bracket, the fourth-seeded duo of senior JT Murray (Bayville, NJ) and Duval defeated Derrick Boltz and Thomas Figurelli of Alvernia, 8-1, before falling to the duo from Stevenson in the quarterfinals. In the No. 2 doubles bracket, Mostoller and Esgun fell to the duo from Messiah in the first round, 8-3.
FDU-Florham will host Farmingdale State University on Saturday, September 25 at 12:00 pm in its date of competition.

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