April 5, 2006

Atlantic 10 Championship Bracket

Coming off a weekend sweep of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay and Chicago State University, the Flyers have been playing pretty good tennis lately. After being rained out on Monday without re-scheduling, UD ended the regular season with a 10-11 (.476) record in dual match play. The Flyers now head to the 2006 Atlantic 10 Championships as the seventh seed looking for their second straight trip to the A-10 Finals.

Although the team endured a season high five match losing streak down the stretch, they rebounded to win three of their final five contests. The Flyers actually enter the tournament with the fourth best overall record (behind Xavier, Temple and Richmond) in the conference. With this string of recent success, UD is hoping to make a post-season run for the second year in a row.

The Flyers enter the tournament with a lot less experience this season, just one senior plays regularly for Dayton. There is just as much talent, however, and when everybody plays well; the Flyers have been hard to beat.

UD is anchored by junior Tom Murphy, who was named A-10 player of the week once this season. Murphy is 15-3 at first singles thus far and was a big part of last year's A-10 runner-up team. He'll be counted on to provide leadership along with senior Jamison Downs, who plays doubles with Murphy. They are 12-6 together as the Flyers number one combo and Downs is 7-9, spending most of his time at fourth singles. Sophomore James O'Connell has also been a singles stalwart for the Flyers this season; he is 12-4 (playing mostly at the second spot). O'Connell's doubles partner, Junior Rex Cabrera, finished up the regular season at 9-9 and fills the hole at third singles. When O'Connell and Cabrera take the court together, they are 8-7 at the two spot. UD will also need some major contributions from freshmen David Peyton and Brad Roby if they are to progress deep in the tournament. Both have been regulars in the lineup at fifth and sixth singles, and as doubles partners. There have been some growing pains, however. Peyton is 6-15 in singles play, Roby is 6-13. Playing together at third doubles they have put together a 4-11 record.

After placing second at the A-10 Tourney for the first time in school history last season, the Flyers will attempt to get back to the championship game as a seventh seed this season. Their first task will be to get past Fordham University. The Rams, a 10 seed, will be going into the match with a 7-7 record (2-4 this spring).

The 28th annual Atlantic 10 Conference Championship will begin Thursday, April 5. It will be the first of nine championship trophies presented by the conference this Spring. The Flyers and Rams will face off at 11 A.M. in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.