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Head Coach Martin Blackman and the Eagles start the Patriot League season against Colgate on March 29.

January 23, 2003

WASHINGTON -- In a poll conducted by the coaches and sports information directors of the Patriot League, the American University men’s tennis team were tabbed to repeat as league champions in the 2003 season.

AU led all seven teams with 10 first place votes en route to a total of 69 points. Army was second with 57 total votes including two first place votes while Colgate and Navy tied for third with 51 total votes and one first place vote each. Lehigh was slated to finish fifth with 25 votes followed by Lafayette a close sixth with 24 votes and Bucknell in seventh with 17 votes. Coaches and SIDs were not allowed to vote for their own teams.

The Eagles return six members of last year’s squad that set school records with a 19-2 overall showing that included a 16-match winning streak. AU was a perfect 6-0 record against Patriot League action. Two seniors head up the 2003 squad in Kyle Bailey (Sinking Springs, Pa./Wilson) and Andreas Kulcsar (Nuremburg, Germany/Neues Gum. Nuremburg) - both who were members of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll last year.

The large junior class welcomes a fifth member this season in Ruben Rivero (Sevilla, Spain/Suffolk County Community College), who was ranked as high as third nationally on the junior college circuit. Returning for AU are Jonah Fliegelman (Philadelphia, Pa./Central), Tushar Garg (Mumbai, India/Bradenton Academy), Juan Jaysingh (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Prep) and Guillame Tarralle (Paris, France/French International School). American also welcomes one freshman in Juancarlo Vazquez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Centre Educativo Superior Vocational).

American, which is coached by the 2002 Patriot League Coach of the Year, Martin Blackman, looked strong in preseason as it captured a pair of singles titles and one doubles title at the Fall Patriot League Championships. The Eagles will have to make up for losing a strong senior class in the 2002 Patriot League Player of the Year Bence Hamori and Josh Procacci.

The Eagles open the spring season against George Washington on February 1 at the West Winds Country Club.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.