April 7, 2006

Results

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - The second-seeded Xavier University men's tennis team came into the 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference Championships with high expectations, but XU's shot at the title was eliminated on Friday evening as the No. 7 seed University of Dayton posted a 4-3 win over the Musketeers at the Club 4 Life. With the loss, Xavier drops to 15-7 overall while the Flyers improve to 12-11.

This was the third straight meeting between Xavier and Dayton in the tournament and the Musketeers are now 2-2 all-time versus the Flyers in the annual championship.

Dayton came out full of energy and captured the doubles point with victories at first and second doubles. At No. 2, UD's James O'Connell and Rex Cabrera defeated Oliver Marinkovic and Jeremy Miller, 8-3, while Jamison Downs and Tom Murphy clinched the doubles point with an 8-3 win over XU's Doug Matthews and Rob Simpson. Ra'ees Ismail and Rustin Reys held a 7-5 lead over David Peyton and Chris Jones at No. 3 when the match was called.

Simpson brought the match even at 1-all as the senior captain cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over UD's Brad Roby. The Flyers would take a 3-1 lead as Murphy defeated Miller at No. 1, 6-2, 7-6 (3), and Marinkovic fell in straight sets to O'Connell at No. 2, 6-0, 6-3.

At No. 4, Ismail brought the score to 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Downs while Matthews tied the match up at 3 as he rallied to defeat Cabrera in the second set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6 (4). The match was decided at No. 6 where XU freshman Mike Dieciuc was topped by Peyton in three sets, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 7-5.

Xavier will now take on Saint Joseph's on Saturday, April 8, at 11:00 a.m. as the Musketeers look to secure a place in the fifth-place match on Sunday.

-XU-