SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- 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.
Levente Mihaly (Békéscsaba, Hungary/Békéscsabai SZC Széchenyi István) and
Olivier Erkens (Gouda, Netherlands/Coornhert Gymnasium) defeated Behrend's top duo of Graham Louis and Owen Sinnott, 6-3, while
David Rodriguez (St. Ann's, Trinidad & Tobago/Fatima College) and
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.
Doubles Results
1.
Olivier Erkens /
Levente Mihaly def. Graham Louis / Owen Sinnott, 6-3
2.
Adam Memije /
Reid Stasolla vs. Carson Souser / Paul Flick, 4-5, unfinished
3.
David Rodriguez /
Zidaan Hassan def. Joseph Salamon / Luke Vunora, 6-0
Singles Results
1.
Adam Memije def. Graham Louis, 6-1, 6-0
2.
Levente Mihaly vs. Owen Sinnott, 6-3, 2-0, unfinished
3.
David Rodriguez vs. Carson Souser, 6-0, 4-1, unfinished
4.
Olivier Erkens def. Paul Flick, 6-0, 6-1
5.
Zidaan Hassan def. Luke Vunora, 6-0, 6-0
6.
Reid Stasolla vs. Joseph Salamon, 6-1, 5-0, unfinished
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.
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