Mason Groff, with the help of his cousin John Yurconic, made history at Salisbury High School a few years ago. The duo had the best tennis season of any doubles team in Falcon history, culminating in state gold during their junior campaigns in 2016.

Fast-forward nearly four years and Groff is once again etching his name in the record books. This time it’s at the collegiate level.

Groff, a junior at Ursinus College, teamed up with Matt Fontanese and the duo advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association Southeast Regional Tournament back in October. It was the furthest any Bears’ tandem has made it during ITA doubles play.

“It felt surreal to make it to the quarterfinals,” Groff said. “We went up against some very tough competition such as Haverford and Christopher Newport, but were able to play our game and pull out the wins. The loss to Hopkins in the quarterfinals was disappointing, but they earned the win.

“The season has gotten off to a great start with a team win over PSU-Abington and then a successful run at the ITA Regional Tournament. This fall has made me very excited for the spring season.”

Groff and Fontanese advanced to the quarterfinals round with an 8-4 victory over Christopher Newport’s Matthew Dubuque and Bently Goodwin in convincing fashion. The two opened the tournament with a win over Pranav Krishnan and Kevin Yan of Haverford, making it just the second time in Ursinus history that a duo team advanced to the Round of 16.

Their run, unfortunately, came to a close against John Hopkins’ Vishnu Joshi and Vikram Vasan in the quarterfinals.

“I think we knew we had the potential to be a very good doubles team, especially after seeing how we performed last season,” Groff said. “But we still have a lot to work on. And while we are happy that we did well at the tournament, we have to make sure we continue to work hard to be even better.”

They will team up again for the regular season that starts on Feb. 29 at Swarthmore. They went an impressive 11-5 at first doubles a season ago, and hope to improve upon that mark in 2020.

The two spend a lot of time together off the court as well, as they have been roommates for much of their collegiate careers. That bond has only strengthened their play on the court each season.

“As roommates for two-and-a-half years, we know each other pretty well at this point,” Groff said. “This relationship transfers to the court, as we can always pick each other up and have fun while playing.”

Groff also competed in the ITA singles tournament, but dropped his consolation match in championship singles against Goucher’s Tetsuya Ota.

He’ll once again play No. 1 singles for the Bears this upcoming season. Groff went 9-10 last spring in his second season at Ursinus.

The expectations are high once again for the two in the upcoming months.

“Personally I want to finish with a better singles record from last season, and continue having the doubles success with Matt,” Groff said.