Denison Sweeps Kenyon in the NCAC Men’s Tennis Finals
Granville, Ohio - Denison University is notorious for it’s prestige as one of the top colleges in the country. The university athletics follow suit. In particular, the men’s tennis program, led by long time coach David Schilling, enters this postseason as the #3 team in the nation and on top of that the NCAA Division 3 defending national champions. Having won the pinnacle achievement in 2025, a new standard has been created for the program.
Denison’s road to repeat as back to back national champions began with a familiar foe: Kenyon College. Kenyon Men’s Tennis entered the competition ranked ninth in the nation, and have had plenty of success of their own in recent years. This top ten match-up was of much anticipation as only one team from the NCAC earn the automatic tournament bid. The match scoring began with Denison striking first blood as first doubles duo Ethan Green and Kael Shah quickly went up 6-1 over Kenyon’s Maximo Llamas Castellanos and Rohan Sriram. Soon after, Denison’s Wesley Huang and Jacob Patterson secured the doubles point beating Alejandro Gonzalez and Eliezer Gonzales of Kenyon with a score of 6-3.
Kenyon had an opportunity to regroup and reset as they headed into the singles portion of the match. All six courts’ first games went in favor of Kenyon, sparking a bit of momentum for the Owls. Eliezer Gonzalez was the first to win a set for Kenyon, bursting out the gates 6-3. However, that fast start for the Owls was shortly lived. The seniors of Big Red stepped up huge over the next hour of play. Denison’s Patterson managed a decisive 6-2, 6-2 two set win on court 3 over Pocasangre, while Andreas Chapides gritted out a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Kenyon’s Jay Kedar Dixit. Lastly, fellow senior Shah clinched the 2026 NCAC Title for Dension, defeating Alejandro Gonzalez, 6-4, 6-3.
The Big Red men’s program has now won the last 6 conference championships, dating back to Schilling’s return in 2020. It’s impressive to see an elite level of tennis from two Central Ohio programs. Both Denison and Kenyon hope to continue their successes moving forward towards nationals.
