The men’s tennis team has nearly reversed its dismal record from last year, and heads into this weekend’s MAAC Tournament as the conference’s third seed.

The Stags finished the regular season 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the MAAC, after going 8-15 overall and 2-7 and seeded No. 8 in the conference last year.

Head coach Jeff Wyshner is confident in the team’s ability to place high in the tournament this year, and is extremely happy with the team’s improvement from last year.

“Having gone from 8-15 and 2-7 in the MAAC last year to 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the MAAC is a tremendous accomplishment for this year’s team,” Wyshner said. “This year’s team has greatly improved since last year. We aim for this weekend all year, so we should get our best effort at the MAAC’s.”

Last Thursday, the Stags closed out the season with a disappointing loss to Siena 4-3. The Stags will face Siena, the 6th seed in the tournament, in the first round of the MAAC’s on Friday at the U.S. Tennis Center in New York.

“It’s a challenge to have to play a team that beat us in the regular season. We have our work cut out for us. We should definitely win on Friday,” said Wyshner.

In the first encounter with Siena, Fairfield captured the No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions.

Kevin Nyarady, ‘06, was first off court with a straight set win at No. 3, while Christian Bangert, ‘03, won easily at No. 5 and Adam Belardino, ‘06, cruised at No. 6.

Nyarady is confident about beating Siena the second time around in the first round of the tournament on Friday.

“Right now we are 100 percent focused on Siena,” Nyarady said. “We’ll take it one match at a time. I am extremely confident that we will avenge our regular season loss.”

In the team’s 4-3 loss to the Saints, the Stags also narrowly lost the doubles point, and fought to three-set losses at both No. 2 and No. 4 singles.

“We didn’t come to play, plain and simple,” said co-captain Sean Tompkins, ‘03. “A few of those matches could have gone our way out there, but they didn’t. Friday will be a different story.”

According to Wyshner, the team will focus in on Niagara and Marist after playing Siena on Friday.

“Right now our attention is on beating Siena. After that, we will get into the semifinals on Saturday. We will then go from there,” said Wyshner.

According Tompkins, ‘03, the teams this year to beat are Marist and Niagara. The Stags were shut out by both teams 7-0 earlier in the season.

“The team feels confident that we can finish the year 3rd in the MAAC with a win against Siena in the first round. Finishing any better then 3rd is certainly a lot to expect, considering we were shut out against Niagara and Marist,” said Tompkins. “I think we can give them a better match this time, and if we play our best anything can happen.”