ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca men's tennis team will vie for its second-straight Empire 8 championship and fourth in the last five years at the league's tournament, which will be held at Mercer County Tennis Center in West Windsor, N.J. Saturday and Sunday. Ithaca faces RIT in the semifinals Saturday at 1 p.m. The other semifinal matches Nazareth and Stevens Institute of Technology, with the semifinal winners set to meet Sunday at 1 p.m. The tournament champion will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships.

The Bombers are the tournament's top seed after going 8-0 in conference in the regular season and are 15-2 overall. Ithaca is ranked 11th in the Northeast Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the highest-ever ranking for Ithaca.

Ithaca is led by the nationally-ranked doubles team of senior Taylor Borda (West Morris-Mendham/Chester, N.J.) and junior Josh Rifkin (Homestead/Fort Wayne, Ind.), which has a 25-3 record at first doubles this year. Rifkin is 17-4 in singles play, including a 14-1 record at first singles. Borda is 18-3 in singles play, primarily at second singles.

Ithaca's second doubles team of sophomore Jimmy Newton (Florida Virtual School/Englewood, Fla.) and senior Danny Wolk (The Field School/Potomac, Md.) are 16-0 on the season. Newton is 13-7 in singles and Wolk is 13-5.

The third doubles team of freshman Josh Berggrun (Orange/Pepper Pike, Ohio) and junior Dan Adelman (Pomfret School/Hampton, Conn.) are 6-2 on the year, and Berggrun is 9-5 in singles play. Sophomore Dan Levine (Monroe-Woodbury/Highland Mills) rounds out the singles lineup and has a 7-8 record.

Official Tournament Site