April 28, 2003

Poughkeepsie, NY - Five Marist College men's tennis players were named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) All-Academic Team this past weekend at the conference tournament in Flushing, NY.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must complete two semesters at their institution, be a significant starter or reserve and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a 4.0 scale. Loyola and Marist led all conference schools with five members each on the team, as 21 total athletes were selected.

Leading the way is senior Patrick Hofer (Villach, Austria), who is a Business major. He won his third consecutive Dr. Joseph Grassi Award, which goes to the most outstanding player at the MAAC Tournament. Also named to the team were seniors David Slater (St. Alban's, England), who is also majoring in Business, and Martin Aldorsson (Kungsbacka, Sweden), a Communications major.

Junior Viktor Sapezhnikov (Brooklyn, NY), a Business major, and sophomore Michael Nassif (Ames, IA), who is majoring in Biology, round out the Marist selections.

The Red Foxes won their fifth consecutive MAAC Championship on Sunday, defeating second-seed Niagara, 5-1, to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth year in row. Marist is 22-2 on the season and finished undefeated in the conference for a fifth straight season. The Red Foxes will find out who their opponent is in the tournament when ESPN News will be televising the selection show on Wednesday, April 30th, at 4:45 p.m.