Men's Tennis | 5/8/2026 6:55:00 PM
SWARTHMORE, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The Allegheny College men's tennis team swept Penn State Behrend in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Division III Championships in a neutral-site match hosted by Swarthmore College on Friday.
Although the two campuses are separated by less than an hour in northwestern Pennsylvania, Allegheny (18-7) and Penn State Behrend (18-5) had to travel to the suburbs of Philadelphia for Friday's showdown. Following a 4-0 victory over the Lions, Allegheny punched its ticket to the second round of the national championship tournament for a third consecutive season. The Gators will face eighth-ranked Swarthmore (20-6), host of the regional tournament, on Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m. in the second round.
The Gators jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the Lions after capturing the doubles point. Sophomore Levente Mihaly (Békéscsaba, Hungary/Békéscsabai SZC Széchenyi István) and sophomore Olivier Erkens (Gouda, Netherlands/Coornhert Gymnasium) defeated Behrend's top duo, 6-3, while senior David Rodriguez (St. Ann's, Trinidad & Tobago/Fatima College) and freshman Zidaan Hassan (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) blanked their opponents in the No. 3 doubles contest.
Freshman Adam Memije (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) was the first Gator to complete their singles match. He won 12 of 13 games played in a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Louis. With the win, Memije broke a tie with Patrick Cole '14 and now owns the team record for singles wins in a season with 27.
Erkens and Hassan clinched the match with their wins in the fourth and fifth singles matches. Erkens defeated Paul Flick, 6-0, 6-1, while Hassan took all 12 games from Luke Vunora in a straight-set victory.
Up Next
Allegheny advances to the second round of the NCAA tournament and will face No. 8-ranked Swarthmore on Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m. The winner of Saturday's match will move on to the regional final on Sunday against either Carnegie Mellon University or Washington and Lee University.
Contributed by Allegheny Athletic Communications/Photo courtesy of Matt Mizanin-Swarthmore Athletics