Take the assistant coach and put him in charge, recruit the fifth-ranked junior from Argentina, add a transfer from Missouri Valley College who was a ranked junior in his native Peru, welcome a transfer from Assumption College, and what do you have?

Only the best Bryant University men’s tennis team in 14 years.

Now take the Bryant women’s team that lost two outstanding seniors to graduation, welcome two freshman, one recovering from wrist surgery, and add three talented transfers almost by accident and what do you have?

Only Baraba Cilli’s strongest team in her eight years as head coach.

Together, the Bulldog men and women have written tennis history this spring. The men won their first Northeast-10 Conference championship since 1994 on Sunday with a 5-0 rout of Stonehill. Making the triumph all the sweeter was the women’s fifth consecutive NE-10 title, thanks to a 5-0 triumph over Saint Michael’s.

It’s the first time in 20 years that teams from the same school won the NE-10 regular-season and tournament championships in the same year. Springfield was the last, in 1988.

Both Bulldog teams expect to learn today their first-round opponents for the NCAA Division II tournaments. The men will probably play on the road. The women have bid to host a regional.

“This has been a great season for us, which is pretty obvious by our record,” first-year men’s coach Ron Gendron said. His Bulldogs are 20-3 and posted a 10-0 record in the NE-10.

“We hoped to compete for the Northeast-10 championship and make the NCAAs, but to dominate and get a national ranking and beat two nationally ranked teams (Kutztown and Mercy) exceeded my expectations,” he said.

Gendron has been on the Rhode Island tennis scene for a long time. He played for Carl Labranche at Providence College, graduating in 1990, and was a volunteer assistant for the Friars men’s and women’s teams before becoming an assistant at Bryant. He is a member of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association and still plays competitive doubles.

Gendron got two big breaks when a pair of South Americans decided they wanted to attend Bryant. Cristian Balestrieri initially contacted Cilli, who forwarded his name to Gendron when she learned that Cristian was a man’s name.

“We started a dialogue, and he chose Bryant over Dartmouth,” Gendron said. Balestrieri, 19, graduated second in his high school class in Mar Del Plata and has a 3.65 GPA at Bryant. He was ranked No. 5 in Argentina in the Boys 18s.

Jose Rodriguez, 20, is from Trujillo, Peru, and spent two years at Missouri Valley College, an NAIA school. He played No. 1 singles and doubles last year and reached the third round of the ITA Regionals. As a junior he was No. 5 in the Boys 16s.

Sophomore Thomas Nowak played singles and doubles at Assumption last year and transferred after a coaching shakeup.

“He had one of the most amazing seasons I’ve ever seen. If there was a big match we won, 5-4, I bet he won his doubles and singles,” Gendron said.

Balestrieri is 18-4 at No. 1 singles, Rodriguez 13-3 at No. 2 and Nowak 8-1 at No. 3 and 7-3 at No. 4. Sophomore Kevin Gardiner is 10-5 at No. 5. Balestrieri and Gardiner are 10-3 at No. 1 doubles, Nowak and Rodriguez 12-2 at No. 2. Matt Sheppard-Lupo and Dylan Whiting are 9-3 at No. 3.

Balestrieri earned Northeast-10 player and freshman of the year honors. Rodriguez and Nowak joined him on the first team. Gardiner and Craig Drushella at No. 6 made the second team. Nowak and Rodriguez made first team in doubles.

“Gardiner and Balestrieri set the tone for the entire season at No. 1 doubles. We never lost more than one doubles match. If you can win two doubles and split in singles, you’ll win a lot of 5-4 matches,” Gendron said.

His team won four matches by that score. It won 10 matches, 5-0, and lost only to URI, Concordia and Bloomsburg.

The Bryant women began their quest for a fifth consecutive title without Sacha Solomon, one of the best players in school history, and Annette Jervasi, the mainstays of those championship teams.

Plus, the Bulldogs “were the team that everyone hated and wanted to beat,” Cilli said. Only URI and Northern Kentucky accomplished that objective. The Bulldogs are 23-2 overall and were 12-0 in the NE-10. They did it with five new players.

Freshman Katie Francazio (Cranston/La Salle) had a tremendous rookie campaign, compiling a 23-1 record overall, 18-0 at No. 4 singles, 4-0 at No. 5 and 1-1 at No. 3. She was 12-0 in the NE-10.

“Katie has just gotten stronger since she got here. She is going to our strength coach and is stronger and smarter. She loves to work. She’s a great kid, and we’re really happy to have her,” Cilli said.

Valeria Couto Cuervo arrived from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, still rehabbing from wrist surgery last June. That gave Amanda Granville, a transfer from Fairleigh-Dickinson at Florham, a chance. She was 9-0 in the NE-10 last fall.

Chelsea Downing transferred from Division II Mercyhurst after Cilli had recruited her younger sister, who ended up at Hofstra. And Emma Czarnecki transferred from Eastern Michigan for the second semester.

“I’ve never had a transfer,” said Cilli, still sounding a little bewildered. “It started last spring. Amanda wants to be an actuarial science major. We watched her hit, and she’s just a backboard. In August Chelsea transferred. She wasn’t happy at Mercyhurst. She was a huge find. I never planned for it. She was a huge surprise. And Emma shot me an e-mail and said it was between Bryant and Providence. We kept in touch. She visited her, liked that we have a men’s team and liked the camaraderie.”

After her arrival Czarnecki settled in at No. 1, Downing moved to No. 2, Michelle Burke (Barrington) stayed at No. 3 and Francazio at No. 4. Couto Cuervo worked her way up to No. 5, and Lauren Mullen bumped Granville from No. 6.

Czarnecki and Downing were 12-0 and Burke and Downing 9-4 at No. 1 doubles and Francazio and Mullen 14-2 at No. 3. Burke and Couto Cuervo were 8-3 at No. 2.

Cilli praised Burke for her poise in playing No. 3 singles, a challenging position because her opponent could be a hard hitter on a deep team or an average player on a less talented team. “She’s a hard worker on the court, and knowing what she’s capable of doing, and then doing it, is a big thing for her,” Cilli said.

Francazio, Couto Cuervo and Granville made first team all-conference in singles. Czarnecki, Downing and Burke made second team. In doubles, Burke and Downing made first team and Francazio and Mullen third team.

Despite leading their teams to titles and in Cilli’s case an undefeated conference record, neither Cilli nor Gendron was voted coach of the year.

Salve captures title again

Unwilling to replay its tense 5-4 victory of April 2, Salve Regina hit Roger Williams with a 3-0 combination in doubles and rolled to a 8-1 victory for the Commonwealth Coast Conference men’s tennis championship.

Senior Robbie Norton, three-time CCC player of the year, won at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles with freshman Trey Van Buskirk, the CCC rookie of the year who also prevailed at No. 4 singles. Roger Williams’ only victory came at No. 2 singles when Daniel Roberts defeated Jason Lago. Michael Collins, Andrew Martin and Chris Tolo also won in singles for the Seahawks. Lago and Martin and Collins and Tolo completed the doubles sweep.

Brian Shanley, eight-time coach of the year, said his team was focused because RWU “forced us to rethink our game plan.”

Salve Regina has won seven consecutive CCC tennis titles and 14 of the 20 since the conference sponsored its first championship in 1989. The Seahawks will play in the NCAA Division III Regional this weekend.

J&W takes crown

Johnson & Wales edged Suffolk, 5-4, for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference men’s tennis championship and improved to 11-1. Senior Stuart Fodiman, who won at No. 1 singles and doubles (with John Bauernfeind), was named the tournament’s MVP.

Tit Hudarin at No. 2 and Devin Kitterick at No. 6 also won in singles. Kitterick rallied from deficits of 4-0 and 5-2 in the third set. He had lost the first set, 7-6, and won the second, 7-5.

Throwing their weight around

The Maloneys of Barrington and La Salle continue to excel in the field events this outdoor track season.

James, a senior at the University of Mississippi, threw the hammer 190 feet, 7 inches, his personal best and the second-longest in Ole Miss history, at the Drake Relays over the weekend and qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regionals. He can visit with his brother Matt, a junior at the University of Tennessee, who has qualified in the javelin with a throw of 228 feet, 2 inches. Their sister Megan, a junior at the University of Oregon, threw the hammer 179 feet, 10 inches at the Oregon Relays, her best this season, and qualified for the West Regionals.

James recently received the Brad Davis Southeastern Conference community service post-graduate scholarship given in honor of the former SEC associate commissioner.

Lyons triumphant again

Five local athletes helped Wheaton College win its 10th outdoor track title in 11 years when the Lyons edged Springfield by two points for the NEWMAC championship.

Junior Morgan Jamiel (Warwick/Toll Gate) ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay and finished second in the 100 hurdles and javelin. Freshman Laurenmaria Smith (Providence/Hope) also ran on the 4x100 relay, and junioir Christine Moreau (Lincoln) ran a leg on the triumphant 4x400 relay. Freshman Erin Neville (North Providence/La Salle) won the high jump, her 5-feet-6 an NCAA provisional qualifier. Senior Megan Brousseau (Attleboro) won the 1,500.

Chizoba Ezeigwe and Renee Thompson each won three events.

Winning efforts

Rhode Island College women won three events at the Little East Conference/MASCAC Alliance Championships.

Mary Ellen Horseman (Barrington) won the hammer, Stephanie Bucci (Smithfield) the discus and Kayla DiBlasi (Smithfield) the 400. Bucci was second in the hammer. Kayla Fleming (Pawtucket/Tolman) was third in the long jump, fourth in the high jump and fifth in the 800. DiBlasi was fourth in the 100 hurdles, Jamie Nunes sixth in the 100 and Brooke Iby second in the triple jump and eighth in the 400.

RIC men won two events. Dante Lopardo (Johnston) finished first in the high jump and Mike Van Gieson (Foster) was first in the 800. Lopardo was also fourth in the long jump and triple jump, Mike Macedo (North Scituate) fifth in the 10,000, Greg Ahnrud (Chepachet) fifth in the 1,500, Kevin Leber (Newport) sixth in the long jump and James Polak (Smithfield) seventh and Travis Stockton eighth in the discus.

UMass-Dartmouth’s Chris Jodoin won the 400 hurdles and set a school record in the 400 meters ((49.38). Eric Holmes won the 3,000 steeplechase.

At the Commonwealth Coast Invitational, Salve Regina’s Anissa Vieira won the 1,500 and the steeplechase, Kacie Gallo the triple jump, Adrienne Terra the hammer, Nicole Warren the 200 and Marisa Fiore the 800.

Bad timing

Rhode Island College lost a softball doubleheader for the first time in three years, and it cost the Anchorwomen home-field advantage for the Little East Tournament. They will share the title with Eastern Connecticut and play the tournament there this week. RIC, the No. 2 seed, will face Southern Maine in the first round.

CCRI won 15 in a row but lost the Region 21 title to Orange County, 6-1, and finished with a 17-6 record. The irony is that Orange County is not in Region 21 but competes for the title because there are not enough teams in its region.

Wheaton fell in the NEWMAC tournament and ended with a 29-14 record. A 2-1 loss to Springfield was the final game for coach Gina Loudenburg, who is retiring after 19 seasons with a 533-202-3 record.

mszostak@projo.com