April 27, 2003

Flushing, NY - The Marist College men's tennis team won their fifth consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship, defeating second-seed Niagara, 5-1, on Sunday in the finals at the USTA Tennis Center in Flushing. This is also the fifth year in a row that Marist has finished unbeaten in conference play. With the win, the Red Foxes receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and improve to 22-2 on the season.

Niagara took the doubles point by winning two out of the three matches. In number one doubles, Patrick Hofer (Villach, Austria) and Martin Aldorsson (Kungsbacka, Sweden) fell to Bozanich and Kelly, 8-6, while at number two, Chris Hagen (Oslo, Norway) and Mark Santucci (Chepachet, RI) dropped an 8-5 decision to Garcia and Ramos. David Slater (St. Alban's, England) and Viktor Sapezhnikov (Brooklyn, NY) won their match over Pope and Hrisovulos, 8-3.

Marist won all of the singles matches, led by Hofer at number one singles, as he defeated Jonathan Bozanich 6-1, 6-2. Hagen avenged a regular season loss to Eric Garcia by winning easily, 6-1, 6-1 at number two. At number four, Santucci won in straight sets over Jason Pope, 6-2, 6-4, while Aldorsson captured a 6-1, 6-3 win over Jason Ramos at number five singles. Michael Nassif (Ames, IA) picked up a win at number six with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Kris Hrisovulos. Slater had his match against Mike Kelly suspended after the score was 6-4, 2-3.

Marist head coach Tim Smith was named MAAC Coach of the Year, while Hofer received the Dr. Joseph Grassi Award, which goes to the most outstanding player of the tournament, for the third year in a row.

The Red Foxes will find out who their opponent will be in the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday, April 30th, when ESPN News will be televising the selection show at 4:45 p.m.