April 7, 2007

Monroeville, PA - After dropping the first set, Charlotte senior Dorian Host battled back to win the second set and hit a forehand winner for match-point in the tiebreak at No. 5 singles to lead top-seeded Charlotte to its first-ever A-10 men's tennis title after defeating second-seeded Xavier, 4-3, in the finals of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Championship held at the Club 4 Life in Monroeville, PA. The 49ers, who are in their second year competing in the A-10, earn the Atlantic 10 Conference's automatic bid into the 2007 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship.

Charlotte jumped out to a 1-0 lead after securing the doubles point as the senior tandem of Roy Sichel and Darren Mansell recorded an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles. Sichel posted a two-set win at No. 1 singles (6-3, 6-2) and Mansell joined Sichel as a two-time winner on the day after garnering a point at No. 2 singles in straight sets (7-6, 6-4). Sichel finished 3-0 at No. 1 singles on the weekend and enters the NCAA Championship with a 33-8 mark in singles action on the season.

"This was a great Championship for us," said head coach Jim Boykin. "Every match was close which just shows how strong the A-10 Conference has become. A majority of the schools can beat anyone else on any given day and you have to give a lot of credit to Xavier who fought hard and made it as close as a team can. We're very happy about winning our first Conference Championship. We've been in a few Conferences and this is a first for us. The NCAA Championship is also a first. You work so hard for something like this and put in a lot of effort and it's great to earn the dessert at the end. Today we got the dessert that we've been working for."

In the third-place consolation match, senior Brandon Harris came back to win 7-4 in the third set tiebreaker to lead third-seeded George Washington past fourth-seeded St. Bonaventure, 4-3. Harris also combined with junior Mark Doumba for an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles. Doumba won his match at No. 4 singles in three sets while freshman Maxx Wattenburg rounded out the scoring for the Colonials at the No. 6 singles.

Earlier in the afternoon, Duquesne won the fifth-place match after registering a hard-fought 4-3 win over Dayton. The Dukes captured the doubles point and picked up wins in the bottom two singles slots as well as the No 2 singles when junior Michael Ortega won match-point after his opponent returned a shot long. Duquesne freshman Mark Maciuch won at No. 5 singles and combined with freshman Jeremy McClelland for a win at No. 2 doubles as the Dukes only two-time winner on the day This is Duquesne's highest finish since a third-place showing in 2003.

"I'm proud of the way the team responded after a tough loss to St. Bonaventure in the quarterfinals," said Duquesne head coach Rob Castille. "I think we're moving in the right direction and I'm excited about the future of this team."

Rounding out the bracket, Dayton finished the A-10 Championship in sixth-place followed by Saint Louis, Saint Joseph's and Richmond in the top nine. Temple and Rhode Island tied for tenth-place while La Salle and Fordham shared twelfth-place.