NYIT Tennis Teams Prepare for NCAA Round of 16 Tournament

The NYIT men's and women's tennis teams have a lot to be proud of this spring—on and off the courts. For the third consecutive year, both teams will compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Round of 16 tournament starting on May 13 in Surprise, Ariz. They enter the tournament with high NCAA Division II rankings: the women's team is No. 10 in the nation and No. 1 in the east region; the men's team is No. 13 in the nation and No. 2 in the east region.

Throughout the semester, athletics prowess and classroom smarts proved a natural pairing for NYIT's tennis stars, including seniors Sara Burinato and Nico Jubera. They received coach's awards on May 4 at the university's 17th Athletic Awards Banquet, which recognizes student-athletes for team competition, academics, and community service. Both recipients are from Spain: Burinato moved from Barcelona to New York to study mechanical engineering; Jubera grew up in La Rioja and joined NYIT to study international business. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranks Burinato No. 47 in the nation. In fall 2014, she was named East Coast Championship (ECC) Player of the Year.

In addition, coaches in the ECC named senior Julio Pulido of Caceres, Spain, as the Men's Tennis Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The ITA ranks him No. 17 in the nation. Pulido also holds an 18-3 record for the 2014-2015 season, including a perfect 6-0 mark in ECC play at No. 1 singles.

Burinato, Jubera, and Pulido are among the diverse student-athletes from eight countries on NYIT's tennis teams. Besides Spain, their teammates come from Slovakia, Argentina, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, and France.