April 22, 2009

2009 Bracket in PDF Format

The University of Dayton men's tennis team will hit the road for Monroeville, PA and the 31st annual Atlantic 10 Championship this weekend. UD's first-round match is slated for Friday, April 24 at 8 a.m. EST against Saint Joseph's.

For the second consecutive season, the Flyers enter the tournament as the No. 9 seed. If Dayton can get by the eighth-seeded Hawks in Friday's opener, they will advance to play top-seeded George Washington later in the day.

Dayton (7-15) is fueled by a 5-2 season-finale win over Valparaiso, and will have had 17 days off to prepare for A-10s by the time it plays its first match.

The Flyers finished in a tie for ninth place last season and will rely on the experience of lone senior David Peyton to lead talented young players at this year's event.

Among these youngsters is freshman Austin Wiegand, who led Dayton in spring singles wins (9) and doubles wins (10), and also earned two Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors.

With Wiegand solidifying the bottom of the order at No. 6 singles, the Flyers will need production from their top players. This includes junior Michael Rohana, who has shown flashes of greatness at times as a Flyer. On March 31, 2009, Rohana bested the reigning A-10 Performer of the Year, Doug Matthews of Xavier, for the second straight year.

Another darkhorse in this tournament could be the experienced Peyton at No. 4 singles. He was the only current player who was around for arguably Dayton's biggest victory in school history in 2005 when UD defeated a dominant Xavier squad to advance to its second consecutive A-10 semifinal. Peyton won the deciding match in that contest, a three-set triumph at No. 6.

For his four-year career, Peyton has played in 95 out of Dayton's 96 spring matches, missing just the one bout against IPFW on Feb. 6, 2007.

This year, Peyton was tied for second in singles wins with seven. He is also one of the conference's elite doubles players, earning bragging rights after tallying A-10 wins over Duquesne and Temple this year in the No. 1 slot alongside Rohana.

The three-day Atlantic 10 Championship will conclude on Sunday, April 26 with the championship match at 11 a.m. EST. Log onto DaytonFlyers.com throughout the weekend for updated results and brackets in PDF form.