The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team will enter their spring season tabbed to finish second, as per the East Coast Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, released on Monday.
In addition, sophomore Marcel Volz was selected as the ECC Preseason Player of the Year. Volz captured both the ECC Player and Rookie of the Year awards in his collegiate debut in 2018-2019. The No. 7 ranked singles player in the latest Oracle/ITA East Region rankings, Volz compiled a 16‐7 record in singles and was a perfect 5‐0 at the No. 1 position in ECC play in 2019. He was also solid in doubles action, finishing with an 11‐8 record.
After finishing the 2018-19 season with an 14-6 record (4-1 in ECC play) and an ECC Finals appearance, the Spartans return eight members of last year's squad, including; Graduate Student Matthew Corsie (Stony Point, NY), Seniors Tim Fleerkamp (Waalre, Netherlands), Enej Hasicevic (Palma de Mallorca, Spain), Jose Robles (Bogota, Colombia), Luke Taplin (Auckland, New Zealand), Junior Paul Voigt (Cologne, Germany), and Sophomores Mitchell Harrison (Brisbane, Australia), Marcel Volz (Iffezheim, Germany) and Thassilo von Eysmondt (Frankfurt, Germany).
New additions Valentin Baranyi (Jr./Baden Baden, Germany), Alvaro Barranco (Jr./Lleida, Spain), Roberto Chong (Jr./Puigpunyent, Spain), Tony Khamassi (Fr./Cannes la Boca, France), Odysseas Papaioannou (So./Thessaloniki, Greece), Paul Renaldo (Fr./Golfe Juan, France) and Marlon Rowe (Jr./Newcastle, England) round out a very veteran-laden, talented group led by Head Coach Matt Capell, now in his sixth season at the helm of the Spartans. Capell is the winningest coach in the program's history.
STAC is currently also ranked #5 in the latest ITA/Oracle East Region Poll, and looks to challenge the ECC's top club Queens College for a chance to capture their first-ever East Coast Conference Men's Tennis Championship and a bid to the NCAA's.
St. Thomas Aquinas returns to action on Saturday, February 29th when they take on the College of Staten Island. The match will get underway at 4pm at the Match Point Tennis Club in Orangeburg, NY
2020 ECC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll
| School | Pts. | Last Year's Record |
| 1. Queens (4) | 24 | 14-8 (5-0 ECC) |
| 2. St. Thomas Aquinas (1) | 21 | 14-6 (4-1 ECC) |
| 3. Dist. Columbia | 14 | 0-11-1 (0-5 ECC) |
| 4. Roberts Wesleyan | 9 | 11-10 (2-3 ECC) |
| 5. Daemen | 7 | 6-15 (1-4 ECC) |
() - first place votes
Preseason Player of the Year: Marcel Volz, So., St. Thomas Aquinas