ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Singles victories from
Stefan Vedovelli,
Eli Mizerski,
Charlie Robin and
Sabi Roi secured the Belmont University men's tennis team's second Horizon League Championship title in three years late Sunday afternoon at the Varsity Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Michigan. The Bruins (13-10) won the 2025 Horizon League Men's Tennis Championship with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Cleveland State in the championship match in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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After dropping the all-important doubles point by the narrowest of margins, Belmont had to win four of the six singles matches. Junior Roi, who hadn't touched a tennis racquet in some time due to illness, prevailed in a three-set affair at No. 3 singles to give the Bruins their third conference tournament championship in five seasons.
With the triumph, Belmont earns the Horizon League's automatic berth in next weekend's NCAA Tennis Championship. The Bruins have punched their ticket to the NCAA Championship for the fourth time in program history after winning the 2023 Horizon League Championship, the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Championship and the 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship.
Having to play catch up for the entire match after doubles play, sophomore Vedovelli evened the team score at 1-1 with a hard-fought straight-set win at No. 5 singles. After winning the first set 6-3 against the Vikings' Maxime Aremon, Vedovelli found himself trailing 5-2 in the second set. From there, he rattled off five-straight games for Belmont's first point of the afternoon.
After Cleveland State's Nico Jamison took No. 4 singles in consecutive 6-4 sets, junior Mizerski battled his was back from a set down at the sixth spot. Taking on the Vikings' Devin Boyer, Mizerski dropped the opening set 6-1 before digging deep and pulling out 6-3 and 6-4 second and third sets.
With the tension quickly building and both teams sensing the final courts still in play, Cleveland State's Horizon League Player of the Year Lincoln Battle closed out junior
Esunge Ndumbe at the top of the lineup in a 7-4 second-set tiebreaker.
Down 3-2, the Bruins had to win on both courts two and three to clinch. Freshman Robin relied on his serve and aggressive play in a lengthy second-set tiebreaker at No. 2 singles after defeating the Vikings' Carl Gedlitschka 7-5 in the first set. After earning a trio of match points at 6-4 and 7-6 in the tiebreak, Robin finished things off returning serve up 8-7.
All attention moved to No. 3 singles where Roi led Cleveland State's Cole Chappell in the deciding third set. After winning the first set in convincing fashion, 6-3, Roi was edged 7-3 in a second-set tiebreaker. Roi broke early in the third set and maintained his advantage before breaking Chappell once again on deuce point at 5-2.
The Vikings (13-12) earned the doubles point despite Belmont owning 4-1 leads at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. Cleveland State's Chapell and Gedlitschka on court two and the Vikings' Aremon and Jamison on court three both escaped with 7-3 tiebreak wins after the tandem of Vedovelli and freshman
Esteban Ortiz topped Battle and Boyer 7-5 at the top doubles spot.
Of Note
- The match was a rematch of last year's Horizon League Championship final, which Cleveland State won 4-2.
- The win is the Bruins' first over the Vikings.
- Belmont and Cleveland State were both No. 1 seeds after the Bruins won the Horizon League South Division title for a third-straight year and the Vikings claimed the league's North Division crown for a third consecutive season.
- The conference championship is the Bruins' 11th overall, including regular season and tournament titles, since becoming NCAA Division I members.
- Senior Diego Castro has been a part of all three of Belmont's most recent conference tournament championships.
Up Next
The 2025 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship selection show will take place late Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed live on
NCAA.com. The NCAA Championship First and Second Rounds are slated for next Friday-Monday, May 2-5.
How to Follow
Follow Belmont men's tennis on social media –Â
@BelmontMTennis on X, formerly Twitter, and
@belmontmtennis on Instagram – for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via theÂ
official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
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#ItsBruinTime
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