Devils Picked Fourth in CACC Pre-Season Poll

New Haven, Conn. (March. 17, 2011) - The University of the Sciences men's tennis team has been picked to finish fourth in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) pre-season poll which was released today. The league's seven head coaches conducted the voting.

Concordia College was the unanimous pick by the coaches to win the league championships.  The Clippers welcome back six players from last season’s team that advanced to the semi-finals of the NCAA Tournament.  Philadelphia University was selected second with 40 points after qualifying for the NCAA Regional last season, where the Rams picked up their first-ever NCAA win with a victory over Merrimack. Chestnut Hill was selected third with 34 points.  The Devils picked up a victory against the Griffins in the fall, one of their three fall wins against only one loss, to division I LaSalle University. 

The Devils hold onto the fourth spot with 30 points.  Post University (17 pts.), Bloomfield College (17), and Caldwell College (8) round out the poll.

The Devils return four of six starters from last year’s squad that lost in the CACC semi-finals to eventual champion Concordia, led by seniorsFrancisco Garcia and Chris Lukose.  Garcia played the majority of his matches last season at #1 and #2 singles compiling a 4-9 mark.  Lukose had singles matches at four different slots but played the majority at #4 singles and had a 5-6 record.  Juniors Roger Van Scyoc and Bill Fine also return.  Fine was 5-9 primarily at the #3 singles while Scyoc was 7-6, mostly at #5 singles.

Newcomers to the squad includeDavid Kazekevich and Alvaro Vargas. Both newcomers went undefeated in dual match play in the fall sporting identical 4-0 singles and 4-0 doubles records.  Vargas and Kazekevich were ranked as the #5 doubles team in the region according to the ITA pre-season rankings in November.

The first regular season ITA region ranking appeared last week with the Devils ranked seventh.  Concordia (1^st) and Philadelphia University (4^th) are the two CACC schools with higher rankings.  Chestnut Hill College is ranked 8^th one spot behind the Devils.

The CACC championship is slated for Tuesday and Thursday, April 19 and 21. Chestnut Hill will host the championship match at 3:00 pm on the 21^st.