Goffstown, N.H. - At long last, the No. 1 seed Adelphi University men's tennis team is back in the NE10 Championship final, following Thursday's 4-1 victory over fourth-seeded Assumption University in the semifinals of the 2024 NE10 Tournament at the YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown.

Since the forecast called for rain for much of the day, the site of the semifinals -- originally scheduled to be held on the campus of Southern New Hampshire University -- was moved indoors.

In what will be a quick turnaround for the Panthers, Adelphi will play the winner of No. 2 seed Southern New Hampshire University and No. 3 seed Franklin Pierce University in tomorrow's 12 p.m. final at the Ouellette Stadium Tennis Courts in Manchester.

The 'Cats are in the NE10 Championship final for the first time since 2016, although the title of NE10 Tournament champion has still evaded the 'Cats in their history.

"I'm very happy with the performance of the team today. Each of them had a strong presence from the start of doubles and continued to fight relentlessly through singles," said Head Coach Rebecca Fakas. "Assumption is a tough team and we knew what level was expected of us coming in."

On top of being named NE10 Player of the Year, Marko Jovanovic was awarded the prestigious Elite 24 Award, in recognition of possessing the highest cumulative grade-point average at the championship site.

Jovanovic, the 2023-24 Adelphi Athletics Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, sports an incredible 3.989 cumulative grade-point average in his major study of Accounting.

Jovanovic is the second Elite 24 winner this year for a Fakas-led squad, with Katarina Liedbeck capturing the same honor for the women back in the fall.

With their NE10 Player of the Year back in the fold, unlike their last meeting, the Panthers instantly handled business in the doubles competition. The No. 1 and No. 3 pairs of Thomas Horsley and Jovanovic, and Viktor Hockl and Thiago Negrao won 6-2 and 6-3, respectively.

The Brown and Gold were pushed to the edge though in singles. Each of Adelphi's four leading singles players lost their opening set, but answered back resiliently.

Jovanovic came back from a disheartening 7-5 defeat to knock off Yannick Heitzberg, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 1 flight. Hugo Munoz Reinoso lost the first set, only to win the next two at No. 4 by identical 6-3 scorelines. With the 'Cats on the brink, Hockl took down NE10 First Team All-Conference selection Caden Samkutty, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 2 singles.

"Now, we focus on the finals tomorrow, as we look to have another solid performance," Fakas concluded.