NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The University of Dayton men's tennis team will head to the Atlantic 10 Championship starting on Thursday as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. The Flyers will open play on Friday at 11:30 a.m. against sixth-seed Saint Louis at USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
 
It marks the fourth straight season the Flyers have earned the fourth seed or better after falling to Richmond in the semifinals in 2021 as the No. 2 seed.
 
This season Dayton is 14-7 and 4-0 in conference play. The Flyers are also 2-0 on neutral courts in 2022 and enter the match with Saint Louis having won four of their last five matches. Junior Connor Bruce has been a staple at the top singles flight this season, posting a 16-8 record and winning 12 dual matches at the top flight.
 
His 16 wins are tied with sophomore Ronit Hiryur for the most on the team. Hiryur has played every dual match at the No. 2 slot in what has been a breakout campaign for the sophomore. Freshman Eric Perkowski is the third Flyer with at least 15 wins. Perkowski is 15-6 in 2022 and has earned five Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors behind a 12-3 dual match record. His 15 wins by a freshman are the most since Joe DeMarco won 15 during his rookie season at Dayton.
 
Bruce and senior Will Harper have also moved into the Top 25 in program history in singles wins this season, with Harper ranking 22^nd with 38 wins and Bruce 21^st with 39. Senior Steven Karl has also made historic moves on the program leaderboards. Karl opened the season in 10^th and has moved into eighth with 66 wins, one behind Jonathan Khoury for seventh place on the leaderboard.
 
Saint Louis will enter the week with an 8-12 record on the season having last played on April 18, picking up a 4-2 win over Northern Illinois. The Atlantic 10 Championship will be the first time this season that the Billikens will play a conference opponent this season, with all 20 matches happening against schools outside of the Atlantic 10.
 
Oscar Alvarez has been the one who has played the most at the top singles flight for Saint Louis, posting a 4-10 record at No. 1 singles. Ryota Fukushima has played one match at No. 1 singles, but has mostly manned the second singles flight, finishing with a 6-10 record in the second slot.
 
Adam Behun and Theo Ortis have been the only two Billikens to play at the third singles flight, with Ortis finishing with a 5-8 record at No. 3. Saint Louis has been the best at No. 6, finishing at 8-10 with Pavel Badaiants leading all Billikens with three wins at the sixth singles flight in 2022.
 
This marks the second-straight season the Flyers will open the Atlantic 10 Championship with Saint Louis. Dayton beat the Billikens 4-2 on April 30, 2021 in the first round of the 2021 edition of the tournament. After dropping the doubles point, the Flyers took four wins in singles play, with Bruce, Karl, junior Matt DeMarco, and Harper each securing wins for Dayton to move them into the semifinals.