ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca men's tennis team seeks its fifth Empire 8 title in program history and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship when Empire 8 Tournament play begins Saturday morning in Rochester.

The Bombers won all eight of their conference matches during the regular season and are the tournament's top seed. Ithaca will face fourth-seeded Hartwick at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The other semifinal has second-seeded Stevens playing third-seed RIT.

Ithaca won 65 of the possible 72 individual matches in attaining its perfect conference dual-meet record. Taylor Borda and Josh Rifkin were both 8-0 in Empire 8 singles play and teamed up to go 8-0 at first doubles. The second doubles team of Danny Wolk and Jimmy Newton won three Empire 8 matches. Wolk was 6-0 in singles play and Newton was 7-1 in singles competition.

Ithaca is 15-4 overall in dual meets this season, and that win total matches the most wins in a season in program history, previously achieved in the 2002-03 season. The Bombers won their first Empire 8 championship that season and added titles in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

The winners of Saturday's semifinal matches will play Sunday at 10 a.m. In case of poor weather at RIT, matches will be moved indoors to the Mendon Racquet Club.

Empire 8 Tournament Site