April 16, 2008

Mason's Men's Tennis team goes into the CAA Championships as the 10th seed in search of their first CAA tournament win since 2005-06, where they beat Drexel, and face off against the 7th seed Delaware at 2 pm at Huntington Park for the second time this season.

Mason did face Delaware in March losing 6-1, led by Stas Budagov, who played a marathon match taking it 6-4, 6-4. In the first set of that match he managed to come back from a 3-0 deficit by shear heart not allowing anything to pass. The second set was much like the first set action, but again Budagov pulled it out by demonstrating the essence of the word determination.

Junior Dan Schneider sits one doubles win from getting to 15 wins on the season, the most since Simon Targett did it in 1997-98. After a six-match win streak in singles, Schneider is playing the best tennis he has all year and has improved by one game from last season and is looking to take his seventh win of the season.

Freshman sensation Harwood Hoskins has the second best singles record for the season, 12-16, as he looks to notch his first CAA victory. He played a close match losing 4-6, 5-7, but he was in the lead at the beginning of both sets. Jordan Lipstock saw the same thing in his match as he took an early lead in the first game, but could not hold on.

With that being said that was before Mason's five match win streak, the longest since 1998-99. Brian Fitzgerald sits at 13-5 in the spring, tied all time for third in winning percentage and tied for third for wins in a spring season. With 17 wins on the season, Fitzgerald sits on the edge of the top 10 for wins in a season, tied for 12th, and will look to take sole possession of all three with a win against Delaware.

For your complete bracket click here and for updates check gomason or caasports.com.