Men's Tennis

MAC 2026 Men’s Tennis Championship Begins Saturday Morning in Buffalo

BUFFALO, NY – The 2026 Mid-American Conference Men’s Tennis Championship kicks off this weekend in Buffalo, NY, as four teams compete for the coveted tournament title.
All three matches will be played at the UB Tennis Courts (outdoors) and streamed live on the UB YouTube channel. In case of inclement weather, a match will be moved to the Miller Tennis Center.

Buffalo, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Ball State will face off on Saturday, April 18, in the semifinal matches starting at 10:00 AM. The championship match will be played at 1:00 PM on Sunday, April 19, and the crowned champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship.

More information, including links for live stats, video, official brackets, and MAC merchandise, can be found on the 2026 Men’s Tennis Championship Central, here.

The Bulls and Broncos finished the season with an identical 8-2 MAC record and were crowned Co-Regular Season Champions. The two teams split their head-to-head matchups this year – Buffalo won on March 6 (6-1) while Western Michigan won on March 26 (4-3) – but it was UB that won more sets in the series to secure the host responsibilities for the 2027 MAC Men’s Tennis Championship.

Defending MAC Champion Buffalo looks to capture its fourth tournament title and consecutive berth into the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship. Western Michigan is striving for its first title since 2022 on its home court, after finishing runner-up at the 2023, 2024, and 2025 tournaments. Ball State hopes to end the drought of a tournament crown, last crowned in 2014 under recently retired Head Coach Bill Richards in Muncie, Ind. Northern Illinois aspires to capture its first-ever MAC Championship.

For more MAC Men’s Tennis news throughout the season, visit www.GetSomeMaction.com and follow @MACSports on X, Instagram, and Facebook.

 
2026 MAC Men’s Tennis Championship
Buffalo, NY | April 18-19, 2026
Saturday, April 18
Match 1:  No.1 Buffalo vs. No. 4 Ball State | 10:00 AM ET
Match 2: No. 2 Western Michigan vs. No. 3 Northern Illinois | 2:00 PM ET
Sunday, April 19
Match 3: Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2 | 1:00 PM ET
 
Below are the team previews in order of tournament seeding, provided by the Athletic Communications Departments
 
No. 1 Buffalo (14-6, 8-2 MAC)
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team will play host for the 2026 Mid-American Conference Tournament this weekend. Matches will be held at the UB Tennis Courts on campus (outdoors) or at Miller Tennis Center (indoors).

The regular season champion Bulls enter the tournament as the top seed and will take on #4 Ball State in the first semifinal match of the day on Saturday at 10am. Western Michigan will face #3 Northern Illinois in the second semifinal match of the day at 2pm.

Saturday's semifinal winners will play for the championship match on Sunday at 1pm, with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulls are coming off a big road win on Saturday in which they won five of six singles matches to defeat Toledo 5-2 to close out the regular season and clinch the top seed.
The Bulls are balanced with all six players in the lineup recording double digit win totals in singles play this season. Senior Faiz Nasyam and junior Minjae Kim lead the team with 19 wins and senior Onder Balci sit just behind them with 17 victories. Kim and graduate student Clement Mainguy are riding five match win streaks entering championship weekend. In doubles action, Mitsakos and Mainguy have paced the Bulls with 14 wins, including an 11-2 mark at the first position, and have won MAC Doubles Team of the Week honors a league-best five times. Jorquera and Nasyam have also reached double-digits as a duo with 10 wins.

Ball State enters the weekend with a 10-11 overall record and 5-5 league mark after dropping a contest at Northern Illinois on Saturday to conclude the regular season. Broc Fletcher and Andrei Caragea lead the Cardinals with 12 wins each in singles action, the former going 7-2 in league play and the latter recording a 6-4 MAC mark. Jacks Lancaster has compiled an 11-8 overall record, including a 5-5 mark in league contests.


No. 2 Western Michigan (15-9, 8-2 MAC)
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Western Michigan men's tennis team takes on Northern Illinois in the 2026 Mid-American Conference Men's Tennis Tournament Semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the University at Buffalo.

WELL THIS IS AWKWARD
This is the first MAC Tournament that Western Michigan has not hosted since 2018. The Broncos won that one with a 4-0 win against Ball State and then a 4-2 win over the host Bulls in the championship match. WMU had hosted the last five, with the 2020 MAC Tournament canceled due to COVID-19 and the 2021 MAC season using the regulars season champion as the automatic bid due to COVID-19.

HOW DID WE GET HERE
The Broncos (15-9, 8-2 MAC) earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament after sharing the Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championship with Buffalo. The Bulls held the tie-breaker thanks to overall points in the team's two matches (9-5). WMU started off MAC play with a 1-2 record after a 6-1 loss to Buffalo, a 5-2 win at Toledo, and a 4-3 loss to Northern Illinois. Since then, WMU has won seven-straight matches. Junior Ashton Adesoro, sophomore Oscar Corwin and freshman Chen-Hui Ho have been the Broncos' dominant singles players in MAC play this season. Each has an 8-2 record. In doubles, it was junior Drew Evans and graduate student Tim Riedel have been the top pair for Western Michigan, combining for an 8-2  record in the MAC. They are 1-1 at the No. 1 position, 4-0 at No. 2 and 3-0 at No. 3.  

HOW DID THEY GET HERE
Northern Illinois (17-7, 7-3 MAC) was tied with Buffalo and Western Michigan for first place heading into the final weekend of the regular season. NIU fell at home to WMU, 5-2, to drop back to the three seed. Senior Iker Arrastia has been NIU's top, and one of the MAC's, singles player this season with a 9-1 record. Arrastia has played at the No. 1 and the No. 2 position during MAC play, with his lone loss coming against Ball State's Jacks Lancaster. Sophomore and Tulsa transfer Nikola Puntaric has an 8-2 record in singles, while splitting matches at No. 1 and No. 2. The doubles team of Lorenzi Leti Messina and Federico Scotuzzi led the team in MAC play with a 5-2 record.

THE MATCH UP
Western Michigan and Northern Illinois split the season series. NIU took the opening match in Kalamazoo, 4-3, back on March 12. WMU got its revenge with a 5-2 road win last Thursday.  The two teams have not faced each other in the MAC Tournament since the 2022 semifinals, a 4-1 victory for the Broncos.  

HEADING IN ON A HEATER
The Broncos head into the MAC Tournament on a seven-match win streak. While the team is hot together, a few Broncos are streaking on their own. Junior Ashton Adesoro is on a six-match singles winning streak, while graduate student Tim Riedel is at four and Oscar Corwin is at three. In doubles, Adesoro and sophomore Jack Davison have won five straight matches. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
The winner of Saturday's match will take on the winner of the Buffalo vs. Ball State Semifinal, which will be played prior to WMU's match at 10 a.m. 
 

No. 3 Northern Illinois (17-7, 7-3 MAC)
DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team is off to Buffalo, N.Y. this weekend for the Mid-American Conference Tournament, beginning with Western Michigan on Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m. CT. The Huskies will face the winner of Buffalo and Ball State with a win on Saturday.

NIU closed the regular season winning two of its last three, including a 4-1 win over Ball State on Senior Day on Saturday, April 11. The Huskies finished the season with 17 wins, most by any MAC team this season, and finished third in the conference with a 7-3 record. Buffalo and Western Michigan tied for the regular season title with an 8-2 record.

On top of the team success, NIU has received plenty of individual recognition this season. Senior Iker Gaztambide Arrastia has been ranked as high as No. 63 in the ITA Division I Singes Rankings and NIU has received 10 MAC Player of the Week honors.

"What's led to our positive results is a combination of work ethic, belief, having two of the best players in the MAC in Co-Captain Iker Arrastia and Nikola Puntaric and a team who knows how to meet the moment," said head coach René Vidal. "But the real secret sauce is our heart, which is something nobody can take away from us."

Gaztambide Arrastia, who has been ranked since March 17, is the first NIU player to be ranked by the ITA since 2015 (Doubles, Dor Amir / Axel Lagerlof) and the first to be ranked in singles since at least 2010. The 12 home wins from the Huskies are the most in a single season since 2021 and fourth most since 2010.

This season, NIU has faced two ranked opponents in No. 11 Illinois and No. 21 Wisconsin, four back-to-back matches and one doubleheader. The Huskies schedule has helped prepare to meet the championship moment.

"When you've done all the right things up to this point, this weekend doesn't warrant a unique, motivational message," said Vidal. "We played back-to-back matches earlier this season for a reason, so we are built for this kind of challenge. Our guys love to compete and are focused on maximizing the opportunity."

A win on Saturday would put NIU in the MAC finals for the first time since 2019 and a win on Sunday would be the first MAC Tournament crown for the Huskies.

"The current state of our program is a sharp uptick to the positive, but the ideal future is to create a dynasty by winning championships year after year," said Vidal.

NIU By the Numbers
  • 1-1 record vs. Ball State, Buffalo and Western Michigan this season.
  • Ball State: March 14, L, 4-3; April 11, W, 4-1
  • Buffalo: March 19, W, 4-3; April 2, L, 5-2
  • Western Michigan: March 12, W, 4-3; April 9, L, 2-5
  • Most singles wins: Iker Gaztambide Arrastia, 19; Nikola Puntaric, 17; Federico Scotuzzi, 13.
  • Most doubles wins: Gaztambide Arrastia/Puntaric, 12; Leti Messina/Scotuzzi, 10; Suo Nan/Dellien Velasco, 8.
  • Record at No. 1 & No. 2 Singles: 40-7; in MAC: 17-3.
  • 18 doubles points won, 15-3 record; 2-4 when losing doubles point (wins came against Buffalo and Western Michigan).
  • Doubles Wins in MAC: 7 (5-2).
  • 8-0 record when No. 3 and No. 4 singles both win, 16-2 when No. 3 and No. 4 record at least one win.

 
No. 4 Ball State (10-11, 5-5 MAC)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The fourth-seeded Ball State men's tennis team (10-11, 5-5 MAC) is set to open the 2026 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Men's Tennis Championship this Saturday, April 18, against the tournament host and top seed, Buffalo. The semifinal match is scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. ET first serve at either the UB Tennis Courts or the Miller Tennis Center, depending on weather conditions.

The Cardinals clinched the final spot in the tournament field following a pivotal road victory at UIC earlier this month. Ball State enters the postseason led by head coach Gene Orlando, who is in his first season at the helm of his alma mater.

Ball State and Buffalo split their regular-season series in 2025, but the Bulls took both matches in 2026. Their most recent meeting on March 28 was a narrow 4-3 decision in favor of Buffalo.

In 2014, Ball State clinched its most recent MAC Tournament title with a 4-3 victory over Buffalo at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center. Since the tournament's inception in 1997, the Cardinals have secured the championship seven times (1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2011, and 2014). Overall, the program boasts an impressive legacy of 38 combined MAC tournament and regular-season titles.

The winner of Saturday's semifinal will advance to the MAC Championship match on Sunday, April 19, to face the winner of the second semifinal between No. 2 Western Michigan and No. 3 Northern Illinois.