BRIDGEPORT – The University of Charleston men’s tennis team has been voted as the favorite in the 2025 Mountain East Conference preseason poll, per a vote of the MEC’s seven head coaches.
UC, the defending MEC team champion, finished 19-3 last season and 5-0 in conference play before advancing to the NCAA Championships as the No. 10 seed. After ousting No. 7 seed Azusa Pacific University, the Golden Eagles fell to second-seeded Valdosta State. Charleston returns MEC Player of the Year Jorge Perez, a junior from Spain, as well as All-MEC first team selections Omar Elsamahy (sophomore, Egypt) and Vicente Garcia (junior, Spain).
Fairmont State, which lost to UC in the 2024 men’s tennis championship final, finished second in the preseason poll, followed by West Virginia Wesleyan, Davis & Elkins, West Virginia State, Frostburg State, and newcomer West Liberty. W. Va. Wesleyan, which received the only other first-place vote in the poll, returns 2024 MEC Freshman of the Year Takuya Kobayashi, a sophomore from Japan.
2025 MEC Men’s Tennis Preseason Poll
1. Charleston (6) — 36
2. Fairmont State — 30
3. West Virginia Wesleyan (1) — 27
4. Davis & Elkins — 19
5. West Virginia State — 15
6. Frostburg State — 14
7. West Liberty — 6
( ) — First-place votes
* Coaches unable to vote for own team
