April 23, 2008

The Dayton Flyers men's tennis team capped off the 2007-08 season with its annual awards banquet on Tuesday evening. Head coach Steve Brumbaugh handed out three awards, including the White Allen Most Valuable Player Award to sophomore Michael Rohana. The Flyers finished the spring season with a 9-15 record and a ninth place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championship.

Other award winners were sophomore Matt Sherman and senior Josh Vance. Sherman was named the team's Most Improved Player. Last year, he went 6-17 in singles play, with most of his action coming at the No. 5 position. In 2008, he racked up a team-high 11 victories, seven of which came at the No. 2 spot in the order.

Vance was the recipient of the Coaches Award. The four-year letterwinner played only four singles matches and three doubles matches this spring, but Vance was clutch when it counted. In the final match of the year, he tallied victories at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles to help UD to a 4-1 win over Fordham at the Atlantic 10 Championship.

Vance and classmate James O'Connell are the lone graduating seniors from the 2007-08 squad, which compiled dual match records of 1-0 in the fall and 9-15 in the spring.

The Flyers won their only fall match in a 7-0 sweep of Cedarville. Dayton also began the spring season on a high note by winning two of its first three matches, including another sweep against Cumberlands.

UD then played its next five matches on the road. The trip included stops against some of the toughest competition in the Midwest and East Coast, including nationally-ranked Louisville, Toledo, and George Washington. Dayton's record after the road trip was 2-6, but the Flyers remained determined to turn their season around.

Dayton did just that, as it would dominate its next five opponents on a homestand at Dayton Center Courts. UD won the five matches by a combined score of 28-7. The stretch was concluded with a 5-2 win over A-10 foe Saint Louis, which finished fifth at the A-10 Championship.

During the streak, freshman Bryce Warnock earned back-to-back Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors. Sherman was named A-10 Performer of the Week on March 3 after going 3-0 in singles in the final three matches of the homestand. Dayton bumped its record to 7-6 following the homestand.

The Flyers eventually cooled off with a loss to Xavier on March 4, but Rohana was just beginning to heat up. Rohana dominated Xavier's Doug Matthews- who was eventually named 2008 A-10 Performer of the Year- in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Dayton's First Team All-Conference player ended the year by winning seven of his last nine matches at No. 1 singles. Overall, Rohana was 10-7 at No. 1 singles.

O'Connell joined Rohana as an all-conference performer. For the third consecutive year, O'Connell was honored by the Atlantic 10, this time named to the Second Team.

Thus far, the Flyers have signed two incoming players to add to the 2008-09 roster. Coach Brumbaugh looks forward to possibly adding one or two other recruits.