PAC Release

TRAFFORD, Pa. -- For the fourth consecutive year, coaches around the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) voted the Allegheny College men's tennis team No. 1 in the conference's preseason poll.

Friday's announcement from the PAC predicts the three-time defending champions from Allegheny will secure their fourth consecutive crown in 2026. The Gators, who have yet to lose a PAC match since rejoining the conference ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, enter the spring with a 30-match win streak against PAC opponents in the regular season and playoffs.

In the 2026 preseason coaches' poll, Allegheny earned a maximum of eight first-place votes and 64 points. Second-place Grove City College had 56 points and the remaining first-place vote. Saint Vincent College (46), Franciscan University (44), and Washington and Jefferson College (36) rounded out the top five.

Allegheny also placed five student-athletes on the PAC Men's Tennis Players to Watch list. Four of the five Gators are returning All-PAC selections. Senior David Rodriguez (St. Ann's, Trinidad & Tobago/Fatima College) returns after earning first-team honors for doubles and second-team accolades for singles. Sophomore Levente Mihaly (Békéscsaba, Hungary/Békéscsabai SZC Széchenyi István) debuted last season with a first-team award for singles and second-team honors for doubles.

Senior Benedek Kaibas (Salgótarján, Hungary/Mikszáth Kálmán Gimnázium) was an All-PAC Second Teamer for doubles last spring, while sophomore Olivier Erkens (Gouda, Netherlands/Coornhert Gymnasium) was an honorable mention. First-year netter Adam Memije (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) is also expected to impact the Allegheny lineup during his freshman campaign.

The Gators, who were 5-0 in dual competition during the fall portion of the 2025-26 season, will begin their spring slate with two matches in Pittsburgh on Saturday, February 7. Allegheny's doubleheader opens at Carnegie Mellon University at 9 a.m., before facing Oberlin College in a neutral-site contest at 3:30 p.m.