George Mason at Mount St. Mary's
Saturday, March 23 * 1:30 PM
Emmitsburg, Md. * MSM Tennis Courts
Mount St. Mary's at Delware
Sunday, March 24 * 6:00 PM
Newark, Del.
Opening Serve: The Mount men's tennis team heads into the weekend matches with an 8-3 overall record and a 1-1 conference record. This will be the first match since the Mount lost a heartbreaker to Bryant, 4-3 back on March 14.
About the Bryant Match: The Mount lost to Bryant 4-3 on March 14 in Emmitsburg. The Mount won the doubles point by winning two of the three matches. Mike Salomon and Adam Salam picked up an 8-4 win at the No. 2 spot, while Mike Zabetakis and Austin Blake also picked up an 8-4 win at the No. 3 spot. Salam picked up a singles win as well at the No. 2 spot. Salam displaced Max Vogt; 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Senior Taylor Place also picked up a victory in the No. 6 spot over Josh Rubinstein. Place came from behind to win a thrilling 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 10-8 match.
About the Patriots: George Mason comes into the contest after a 5-2 loss at the hands of South Carolina State on March 15. Jordan Dyke and Jimmy Davis provided the lone Partiot points on the day. George Mason will have a match against Bucknell before heading to Emmitsburg.
About the Blue Hens: Delaware comes into the contest 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the CAA. The Blue Hens come into the contest following a 5-2 loss to Jame Madison on March 16. Adam Lawton and Jason Derene provided the lone points on the match.
Senior Leadership: The team returns all six starters from a year ago, which includes three seniors. Matthew Blake (Garnet Valley, Pa./Salesianum (Del.), Taylor Place(Snellville, Ga./St. Pius X), and Mike Salomon (Haymarket, Va./Seton) lead the charge into 2012-13. Blake finished last year with a 13-13 record in singles, and teamed with Place to finish 13-11 in doubles. Place had a 10-15 singles record, while Salomon had a stellar 24-5 singles record. Paul Chae (Hagerstown, Md./St. Maria Goretti) is the other senior, who had a 1-4 singles record last season.
Strength Up The Middle: The team boasts a pair of juniors and sophomores. Mike Zabetakis (Finksburg, Md./Calvert Hall), and Justin Olexa (Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) make up the junior duo who saw positive playing time last season. Zabetakis played mainly at the No. 3 spot, and accumulated an overall singles record of 8-17. Olexa had a 3-3 singles record. Sophomores Adam Salam (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) and Pat McGinley (Coatsville, Pa./Coatsville) had solid rookie campaigns. McGinley played at the No. 6 spot, and finished 9-16 in singles, while Salam played No. 2 and had a 12-12 record.
Brotherly Love: Freshman Austin Blake (Garnet Valley, Pa./Salesianum (Del.) joins his older brother Matthew for the season. They are the first brothers to play together since Thad and Jastin Mostowtt played together in the 2009-10 season.
Up Next: The men's tennis team will head to Bucknell on Wednesday, March 27. The match with the Bison begins at 3:00 PM.
