Jan. 21, 2009
DAYTON, Ohio -
After a busy fall schedule that included three invitationals and a trip to the ITA Midwest Regionals for two Flyers, the UD men's tennis team is set to kick off its spring season at home on Friday, Jan. 23 against the Toledo Rockets.
The 2009 Dayton Flyers are primed for success, featuring a line-up of experienced players blended with talented underclassmen. Head coach Steve Brumbaugh believes this mixture, along with a hard working and dedicated squad, will allow UD to keep pace with the Atlantic 10's elite teams like Xavier and George Washington.
Dayton's top two returning players, juniors Michael Rohana and Matt Sherman, are each coming off sophomore campaigns that earned them high praise from Brumbaugh at last year's awards banquet.
Rohana, a 2008 First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection and the team's MVP, will return to the No. 1 spot for the second year. This fall, Rohana was a quarterfinalist in Flight A singles at the Ball State Invitational. He was also one of two Flyers, along with Sherman, to be invited to qualify for the 2008 ITA Regional Championships.
Sherman will play No. 2 singles for Dayton after leading the Flyers in singles wins last year and being named the team's most improved player. Sherman had a successful fall campaign, notching an appearance in the Flight A doubles semifinals at the Valpo Invite and helping Dayton sweep Denison in Flight A singles at the Toledo Invitational.
With the No. 2 slot filled, senior David Peyton is the probable choice to round out the top half of the singles line-up. Peyton, who also excels at doubles, saw most of his doubles action at No. 1 last spring before racking up four victories in the top spot this fall.
A host of underclassmen will be in the mix for the final three singles spots. Talented freshmen Austin Wiegand and Andrew Nixon, along with sophomore Michael Koscielski, earned the majority of the playing time during the fall season at these spots. Koscielski was tied for the team lead with five singles wins in the fall.
UD's spring schedule consists of 23 matches, six against Atlantic 10 Conference opponents. After the season opener versus Toledo, the Flyers will face a five-match road swing with all contests being played in Indiana.
Dayton will return home for four matches, including two matches against Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky as part of the UD Invite.
Conference play will start up following the UD Invite when Dayton travels to Duquesne for its first A-10 showdown. Other conference foes on the slate are Temple, St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis, Xavier, and George Washington.
Following conference play, Dayton wraps up its regular season schedule with road matches at Illinois-Chicago and Valparaiso.
The Flyers are coming off a ninth place finish at last year's Atlantic 10 Championship, and graduated only two players from the 2007-08 squad. This season's Atlantic 10 Championship begins on April 24 in Monroeville, PA.
