GENEVA, N.Y. — The New Jersey City University men's tennis doubles pair of senior Theo Bourghelle (Lesquin, France/LaSalle Lille) and sophomore Nico Teynie (Rouen, France/Lycée Val de Seine) have begun the second year of their respective Gothic Knight careers the same way they ended last season — with a bang! The duo, who captured NJCU's 2020-21 Men's Athlete and Newcomer of the Year Awards, as well as the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Player and Rookie of the Year awards, respectively, took down a pair of extremely competitive doubles opponents on Friday, Oct. 1, on day one of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Championships, which are being hosted by Hobart College. With the 2-0 mark, the pair advances to Saturday, Oct. 2's quarterfinal round, with first-serve scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

The pair entered the weekend seeded sixth overall in the doubles bracket and drew an opening-round matchup with Shrey Arora and Rumaish Khastgir of perenial powerhouse New York University. Things started off tough for the Knights as they fell behind 6-2 after eight games. However, the duo battled all the way back to with the final six games of the match and earn the 8-6 comeback victory. With the win, Bourghelle and Teynie advanced to the second round of the tournament where they drew another strong pair of opponents in Nico Haet and Nathan Turtledove of St. Lawrence University. Fortunately the Gothic Knights duo dispatched their foes with ease, winning 8-2 to secure their spot in tomorrow's quarterfinal round. There they will matchup with Skidmore College's Brendan Jimenez and Zachary Portnoy, the second overall seed in the bracket.

On the singles side of things, Bourghelle came in with the second overall seed in the bracket. In the first round, he made quick work of his opponent Matthew Reinhold of SUNY Oneonta, 6-0, 6-1. Unfortunately he was defeated in the second round by future NJAC rival Nikola Kilibarda of The College of New Jersey, 6-4, 6-3. Joining Bourghelle in singles play was sophomore Alejandro Ley (Las Palmas, Spain/I.E.S. Politécnico). The second-year Gothic Knight battled tough in his first-round match but ultimately fell to Connor Griff of Hamilton College, 6-3, 6-3. One other NJCU tennis student-athlete competed on the day as sophomore Jordi Julia (Barcelona, Spain/IES Sant Quirze del Valles) teamed up with Ley in doubles competition, as well. The duo fought hard as well but dropped their first round match, 8-6, to the pair of Connor Biernat and Tristan Thiebaut from Skidmore.

What's Next:
As mentioned, Bourghelle and Teynie will return to action tomorrow afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. doubles semifinal match agianst the No. 2 pairing of Jimenez/Portnoy of Skidmore, with a trip to the semifinals later in the day on the line.