SPORTS

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson men’s tennis team gears up for the Atlantic 10 Men’s Tennis Championship starting Thursday, April 26, in Orlando, Fla, at the USTA National Campus.

For the first time since joining the A-10, the Wildcats earned the No. 2 overall seed and get a bye into the quarterfinals after going unbeaten in league matches at 5-0 and sporting an impressive 15-6 record overall. They will be seeking the program’s first-ever A-10 Tournament title after capturing the Southern Conference title nine times.

Davidson’s five league wins came against Duquesne, Saint Joseph’s, George Mason, George Washington and Richmond, which was one of the tops a year ago in the league.

With its first round bye, Davidson will get the winner of seventh-seeded Saint Louis (8-9, 1-2 A-10) or 10th-seeded Fordham (14-6, 2-1 A-10) in the quarterfinals on Friday at 12 p.m.

All matches can be followed by clicking the link above on A-10 Men’s Tennis Championship Central.

The All-Time Series/Last Meeting
Should the Wildcats face Saint Louis, it would be just the second time all-time as both teams first met back in 2009. They have faced the Rams of Fordham twice since joining the A-10, winning both matches including a 7-0 win on the road a year ago during the regular season.

A-10 Tournament History
The Wildcats are making their fourth appearance in the A-10 Tournament. In last year’s quarterfinal match against the Dayton Flyers, the second straight year both teams faced each other in the quarters, the ‘Cats fell 4-3 with everything coming down to the No. 3 singles position where it was won by the Flyers in a third set, 7-5.

During Davidson’s run in the Southern Conference, it had a 12-14 tournament record that dated back to 1988. The Wildcats won the tournament nine times, collecting titles back in 1954, 1955, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971 and 1973.

As for the A-10 Tournament, George Washington has claimed the title in five of the past seven years, but the VCU Rams, who earned this year’s No. 1 seed, took the title last year. The Rams went 13-9 during the regular season this year.

Scouting the Wildcat Men- Quick Hits
• For the fourth year in a row, and fifth time in the past five years, Davidson reached the double-digit mark in wins as it finished the regular season with 15.
•The 15 wins are one off of last year’s total when the Wildcats went 16-8 overall.
• It is the seventh time under head coach Drew Barrett the ‘Cats have hit the double-figure mark in wins.
• Coach Barrett is in his 12th season guiding the program and has 163 career wins, including 123 at Davidson.
• Davidson ran off a season-best six-match win streak, four of the wins coming against A-10 foes.
• Davidson collected nine of its 15 wins at home with a solid 9-3 mark, while going 5-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral site matches.
• It ran off a seven-match home win streak that came to an end vs. Appalachian State, April 14.
• The ‘Cats as a team earned an outstanding 80 singles wins during the regular season, going 80-43 with a solid 21-9 record in A-10 matches.
• For the second consecutive year, all six singles players collected over 10 wins each.
• Pacing the team was the duo of Shamael Chaudhry and Axel Fries with records of 14-5 and 14-7, including a combined A-10 record of 8-2.
• The senior Chaudhry, who claimed A-10 Player of the Week, March 28, went a personal-best 5-0 in A-10 matches and collected all 14 wins at No. 2 singles.
• Fries, who was the A-10 Freshman of the Year last season, went 10-4 at No. 4 position enters the tournament on a two-match win streak.
• The senior duo of Artem Khrapko (No. 1) and Jack Riazzi (No. 6) followed with records of 13-8 and 13-4, respectively.
• Khrapko, who entered the Spring season ranked, ran off a team season-high eight-match win streak and ended the regular season on a two-match win streak.
• Riazzi had a career season, collecting personal bests in overall wins and league wins (4), while rattling off a personal-best six-match win streak to open the season.
• David Hager went 11-8 between singles positions No. 2-5 and pushed his career win total to 52, joining Khrapko, who has 51, in the 50-win club. Chaudhry has collected 47 for his career.
• Khrapko won the A-10 Player of the Week three times this year.
• Thomas Mason gave the Wildcats its sixth double-digit singles winner with a record of 11-7, getting six of those wins at No. 3.
• Davidson went 29-22 in doubles action, getting eight of those wins in league matches.
• The No. 1 and 2 doubles teams of Fries and Artem Khrapko, and Chaudhry and Hager won 10 games each.
• The pair of Yash Parikh and Riazzi are one win away from the double-digit mark, going 9-6 at No. 3 doubles and they are currently riding a three-match win streak.
• The Wildcats used only five different doubles combinations during the regular season.