ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: #BeaconAOTY Quarterfinal Round matchups set, voting to begin at 11 a.m.

Luke Modrovsky, Editor-in-Chief|April 10, 2019

Madi Hummer

Editor’s Note: Ryan Balliet, tournament assistant, contributed to this report.

Voting has closed in the #BeaconAOTY Round of 16 and the matchups for the Quarterfinal Round are set.

After a total of 5,646 votes today, the tournament saw a total of six upsets in today’s Round of 16.

While yesterday men’s bracket saw a flurry of upsets, today’s action saw just one as No. 13 Thomas Stokes (wrestling) took down No. 4 Tyler Barrow (men’s ice hockey).

The women’s bracket saw the upset trend continue with a total a five upsets in today’s action, adding to yesterday’s tally of four. Seeds Nos. 2 through 5 fell, as well as the No. 9. No. 25 Kendall Castro (women’s ice hockey) took down the defending women’s champion No. 9 Gracen Staunton, No. 21 Allyson Joly (women’s ice hockey and women’s lacrosse) defeated No. 5 Nicolette Towlen, No. 13 Francesca Varela-Seri (women’s tennis) beat out No. 4 Jamey Mikovich (women’s volleyball), No. 14 Maddie Kelley (women’s basketball) defeated No. 3 Kyra Boccio (women’s lacrosse) and No. 18 Ashley Burkhardt took down a heavy favorite in No. 2 Haley Gayoski (field hockey).

Castro is the lowest remaining seed in either bracket at No. 25.

In the Round of 16, matchups for the men saw a total of 2,819 votes cast while the women’s side barely topped that mark with 2,287 votes.

After two rounds of action, a total of 14,444 votes have been counted.

Only two double digit seeds remain alive on the men’s side, No. 24 Ashton Gyenizs (wrestling) and Stokes. Teammates Gyenizs and Stokes will face off against each other later today. Their teammate No. 5 Nicholas Racanelli (wrestling) joins them in the Quarterfinal Round. Racanelli will be tasked with taking down (no pun intended) the defending men’s champion Robinson.

Wilkes wrestling saw all three of their athletes advance from the Round of 16 into the Quarterfinal Round and is the only remaining team to have more than two athletes still in action.

Robinson cruised in his matchup over No. 17 Jack Fisher (baseball), winning by the second largest margin of victory in Round of 16 action (18 percentage points). No. 2 Jose Tabora (football) pulled out a much tighter victory defeating No. 15 Thomas Bowen (men’s basketball) by just two percentage points. He will face teammate No. 7 Jeff Steeber.

The last Quarterfinal Round on the men’s side will feature No. 3 Courtney Murphy (men’s tennis) and No. 6 John Wink (men’s lacrosse).

No. 1 Gabrielle Giordano was not affected by the upset heavy day and sailed past No. 16 Aislinn Speranza (women’s soccer). Giordano will face Castro in the Quarterfinal Round. Two double-digit seeds in Joly (No. 21) and Varela-Seri (No. 13), Kelly and No. 6 Jessica Egan (women’s soccer), No. 10 Samantha Cecere (women’s soccer) and Burkhardt round out the remaining Quarterfinal Round matchups on the women’s side.

All three multiple sport athletes in the bracket, Giordano, Kelley  and Joly, are all still alive heading into the Quarterfinal Round.

Seven different teams are still represented on the women’s side (basketball, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball and tennis) and the men’s side has been narrowed to five (basketball, football, lacrosse, tennis and wrestling).

The updated bracket with Round of 16 pairing is available here: 2018-19 #BeaconAOTY Bracket

The field was announced on Sunday in a selection show posted to “Wilkes Now” on YouTube.

The champion of both categories will be featured in a full page spread in the final edition of The Beacon on April 16.

Tournament Schedule:

  • Quarterfinal Round: Today
  • Semifinal Round: Tomorrow
  • Championship Round: Saturday
  • All polls conducted using the @WilkesBeacon Twitter page.
  • Polls will begin each day at 11:00 a.m. and will conclude at 11:00 p.m.

For coverage of the tournament, check out the following Twitter accounts:

Additional coverage will be provided through media partner 90.7 WCLH — Wilkes University radio on Facebook through @WCLH_radio and @WCLHsports on Twitter and Instagram.