MEN'S TENNIS: Eastern Nazarene Unanimous Atop GNAC Preseason Poll

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lions looking to repeat in
second year as associate member

WINTHROP, Mass. – It has been an impressive run thus far for Eastern Nazarene College tennis under 17th-year head coach Christian Popa since joining the Great Northeast Athletic Conference as an associate member last year in 2018-19.

Last spring, after the ENC Lions men won the GNAC Championship on graduation day, members of the team walked over to commencement with the conference crown in hand while donning their GNAC CHAMPIONS t-shirts and hats. 

This past fall, the Lions women came from behind as the No. 2 seed to take down top-seeded Johnson & Wales University, 5-4, for their first-ever GNAC Championship in just their second GNAC season. The ENC women now prepare for the 2020 NCAA Division III Tournament this spring upon capturing the league's automatic qualifier.

On Friday, the GNAC annual preseason poll saw the Eastern Naz men receive all eight first-place votes for 64 points, unanimously taking the top spot in the rankings as the Lions get set to travel to Hilton Head, S.C. on March 2 for five matches in four days.

Johnson & Wales finished second in the poll with 47 points, followed by Colby-Sawyer College in the third position with 39 points, while Regis College was just off the pace with 37 points for the fourth spot.

Making up the rest of the poll included Suffolk University with 26 points, Norwich University with 24 points, Albertus Magnus College with 14 points, and Lesley University with nine points.

After its trip down south, ENC will open GNAC play on Saturday, March 14 against Lesley, which will compete as a GNAC associate member for the first time in 2020. The 2020 campaign will also be the first in a long time without former New Jersey associate members Ramapo, Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Newark. 

The GNAC Tournament will begin with the third- and fourth-seeded teams hosting a first-round contest on Wednesday, April 22, with the winners advancing on to the semifinals to play at the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds on Saturday, Apr. 25. The 2020 GNAC Championship contest is scheduled for Saturday, May 2.

GNAC core member University of Saint Joseph (CT) will add men's tennis as a varsity program in 2021, which will keep the league's men's tennis sponsorship size at eight teams once Suffolk departs for the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) as a full core member. 

2020 GNAC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll
1. Eastern Nazarene (8) - 64
2. Johnson & Wales - 47
3. Colby-Sawyer - 39
4. Regis - 37
5. Suffolk - 26
6. Norwich - 24
7. Albertus Magnus - 14
8. Lesley - 9

The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience. 

– #TheGNAC –