Championship Bracket
Atlantic 10 Release
MASON, Ohio – St. Bonaventure is seeded 12th in the Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Championship and will meet fifth-seeded Duquesne in a first round match at 9 a.m. Thursday.
The Bonnies-Dukes matchup kicks off the 14-team, single-elimination tournament to be played at Lidner Family Tennis Center. The champion will earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
St. Bonaventure finished its regular season 5-13 overall and 1-4 against Atlantic 10 competition. The Dukes, meanwhile, bring marks of 11-6 overall and 4-1 in A-10 play into the conference tournament.
One of the Bonnies' A-10 losses this season came to Duquesne, 5-2, on Feb. 22 at the SBU Fitness Center. St. Bonaventure has dropped five straight matches against the Dukes since the start of the 2009-10 season, including a 4-1 loss in the opening round of the 2011 Atlantic 10 Championship.
Senior Oscar Yanez was the lone SBU player to earn an individual victory against Duquesne this season, topping Pete Carpenter, 6-2, 6-4, in the second singles match. In doubles competition, the Bonnies' top duo of Yanez (pictured) and classmate Luis Guevara bested Carpenter and Alex Aleman, 9-8 (8), and the second team of juniors Javier Ortiz and Elliot Fanshel chipped in an 8-4 victory over Max Rubin and Corey Robinson.
St. Bonaventure's last first-round conference tournament win came in 2010, when it scored a 4-0 triumph over Saint Joseph's. The Bonnies went on to lose to Saint Louis, 4-1, in the fifth-place match that year.
SBU has captured two Atlantic 10 titles – in 2001 and 2003 – under longtime coach Mike Bates. Duquesne has never won the league championship, which began in 1978.
Ortiz leads the Bonnies with 12 singles victories, while Yanez and Guevara have registered 11 apiece. In doubles play, the tandem of Yanez and Guevara boasts a 15-11 mark, while Ortiz and Fanshel used a late-season surge to forge a 10-6 record.
Aleman (15-4), Rich Robbie (13-6) and Rubin (11-6) have helped the Dukes post a 69-46 singles mark collectively. Led by Aleman and Carpenter (10-6 together) and Robbie and Ben Klaas (10-5), the Dukes are 30-18 in doubles matches.
The St. Bonaventure-Duquesne winner will face the winner of No. 4 Xavier vs. No. 13 Dayton in the quarterfinals at 10 a.m. Friday. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and the championship match is set to commence at 10 a.m. Sunday.
The championship's top two seeds, VCU and two-time defending champion George Washington, have earned a bye into Friday's quarterfinals.
