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Tushar Garg and the AU men's tennis team look to repeat as Patriot League Champions this spring.

April 17, 2003

WASHINGTON -- The first day of the men's tennis Patriot League Championships will be played at the Tennis Center at College Park on Friday, April 18.

Top-seeded American University will play No. 4 Colgate on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. followed by the second semifinal between No. 2 Army and No. 3 Navy at 12:30 p.m. The final is scheduled for Saturday at 12 p.m. on Reeves Courts. In case of bad weather, the championship will be played at 3 p.m. at the Tennis Center at College Park. The winner earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

AU captured its second straight regular season Patriot League title this week with a 4-3 win over Army last Saturday.

The Eagles finished the regular season with a 13-3 overall record and a 5-1 showing against Patriot League opponents. AU's only loss came last week against Navy when there was confusion on the starting time of the match that resulted in a 1-0 default.

THE TEAM

Tushar Garg (Mumbai, India/Bradenton Academy) has stepped into the No. 1 singles spot for the Eagles this season, winning eight of 10 matches at that slot. Freshman Juancarlo Vazquez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Centre Educativo Superior Vocational) became the first individual from AU to be ranked by ITA Tennis this spring. He reached No. 116 in the beginning of April while winning 19 of his 22 singles matches this year.

Assistant Coach Bear Schofield has played an important role in improving the Eagles.

Guilluame Taralle (Paris, France/French International
School) has been strong at No. 2 for American. Senior captain Kyle Bailey (Sinking Spring, Pa/Wilson) plays mostly No. 3 singles with a 9-9 overall record this year while Juan Jaysingh (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Prep) has been strong playing both singles and doubles.

Jonah Fliegelman (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) and Ruben Rivero (Sevilla, Spain/Suffolk County Community College (New York) have maintained the lower half of the singles lineup and Sebastien Proisy (Villepreux, France/Santa Clara International College), a freshman, is 2-1 in singles play.

THE OPPONENTS

COLGATE

Colgate has been led by sophomore Reed Hagmann, who plays at No. 1 doubles for the Raiders. He and Eric Saccullo team up at No. 1 doubles with a 1-5 record. Colgate played last weekend against Bucknell with a 5-2 win.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: On March 29, American clinched a 5-0 victory over the Raiders.

AMERICAN 5, COLGATE 0
Singles
1. Tushar Garg (AU) def. Reed Hagmann (CU), 6-3, 6-2
2. Guillaume Tarralle (AU) def. Eric Sacculo (CU), 7-6, 6-4
3. Kyle Bailey (AU) def. Jake Heims (CU), 6-4, 6-2
4. Juancarlo Vazquez (AU) def. Evan Ambrose (CU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles
1. Garg/Taralle (AU) def. Hagmann/Heims (CU), 8-3
2. Ambrose/Jon Bedard (CU) def. Bailey/Fliegelman (AU), 7-6
3. Ruben Rivero/Jaysingh (AU) def. Sacculo/Blake Willmarth (CU), 8-4

The Raiders are 0-3 against the tournament's competition (American 5-0 L; Army 4-3 L; Navy 4-3 L).

ARMY

Army takes the No. 2 seed after tying with Navy for second with a 4-1 record. The Black Knights won the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of their 5-2 victory over the Midshipmen last weekend. Arnie Albornoz is a combined 14-4 at No. 1 and No. 2 singles for Army this year.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: On April 12, American beat Army by a 4-3 margin.

AMERICAN 4, ARMY 3
Singles
1. Tushar Garg (AU) def. John Sabia (A) 7-6, 6-2
2. Arnie Albornoz (A) def. Guillaume Tarralle (AU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Kyle Bailey (AU) def. Rafael Albornoz (A) 6-7, 6-1, 6-3
4. Steven Srivastava (A) def. Juancarlo Vazquez (AU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Juan Jaysingh (AU) def. Jarrett Skrobarcek (A) 6-3, 6-2
6. Jonah Fliegelman (AU) def. Sebastian Salas (A) 6-3, 7-6

Doubles
1. A. Albornoz/R. Albornoz (A) def. Garg/Tarralle (AU), 8-2
2. Sabia/Salas (A) def. Fliegelman/Bailey (AU) 8-4
3. Ruben Rivero/Jaysingh (AU) def. Skrobarcek/Srivastava, 9-7

The Black Knights are 2-1 against the tournament's competition (American 4-3 L; Navy 5-2 W; Colgate 4-3 W).

NAVY

Navy claimed third place in the regular season race in 2003 despite tying Army with a 4-1 record. The Black Knights beat the Midshipmen last weekend, 5-2, therefore earning the tiebreaker. Cam Lickle has been solid at No. 1 singles for Navy.

The Midshipmen are 2-1 against the tournament's competition (AU 1-0 W; Army 5-2 L; Colgate 4-3 W).

HEAD-TO-HEAD: On April 6, confusion on the start of the match caused American to default to Navy by a 1-0 margin.

IN 2002

In 2002, AU set school records with a 19-2 overall showing that included a 16-match winning streak. The Eagles were a perfect 6-0 record against Patriot League action to take their first trip to the NCAAs. In the first round, American lost to No. 17 Duke by a 4-0 margin.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, is in its second year of membership in the Patriot League. Since joining the Patriot League, the University has captured league championships in men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball, 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.