HAMILTON — The Colgate men's tennis team (12-8, 4-3) will take on Army (12-7, 4-3) in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Championships, which will take place in Lewisburg at 11 a.m. on Friday. 

The Black Knights were the only conference foes that the Raiders have not played in the past two regular seasons, making this the first matchup between the programs since 2023. The squad comes into the tournament riding the momentum of three straight conference sweeps and is on a four-match winning streak in total. Colgate enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed, the first time it has been seeded this high since the 2021 season when the Raiders defeated No. 4 seed Bucknell in the quarterfinals. 

"After three absolutely brutal seasons, I could not have dreamt of a better regular season and a bigger turnaround going from 5-15 to 12-8 is truly remarkable," said Head Coach Bobby Pennington. "I attribute it to our culture, depth, and doubles. We are absolutely elated to be tied for fourth and to play Army in the quarterfinals. They are the only team we did not play in the regular season, so we view it as poetic justice and karma."

The Raiders have more wins this season than they collected in the past two seasons combined, which is a true testament to how special this season has been. The team has played strong doubles this season, led by the sophomore duo of Parker McGowan and Jerome Falcon, who are 16-3, playing mostly at line three. The duo of first-year Tim Viding and junior Aidan Chung also have a winning record on the season, finishing at 9-8 playing mostly line two. The senior captain partnership of Josh Israel and Benito Vlassis has also teamed up for five wins at line one doubles.

The squad has also had a strong showing in singles this year, with six Raiders finishing with at least seven singles victories. Vlassis has led the Raiders all year at line one, picking up four singles wins on the campaign. First-year Lochlan Seth has been a revelation, finishing the regular season with an 8-2 record, including being undefeated at line two. Junior Aidan Lee has played to a 6-6 record at line three, and Josh Israel finished with a 10-9 record on the year, including an undefeated record at line four. Senior captain Ben Graham, Falcon, and Viding held down the back half of the lineup for the Raiders, with Graham finishing 10-7, Falcon 12-6, and Viding 7-3. Seth is leading the squad with a four-match win streak. 

Army comes into the tournament as the #4 seed, a 12-7 record, and matched the Raiders with a 4-3 conference record. The two squads beat the same four teams and lost to the same three teams in the conference, setting the stage for a battle in the quarterfinals.