April 5, 2006

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure men's tennis team will look to capture its third Atlantic 10 Conference championship in six years when the A-10 Championship is played this weekend in Monroeville, Pa.

The Bonnies are the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will open against 13th-seeded La Salle in the first round on Friday at 11 a.m. The winner of that match will go on to play the winner of (5) Temple vs. (12) Saint Louis.

The Bonnies are led by junior standout Alejandro Nery. Nery compiled a 16-12 singles record playing in the No. 1 spot and is likely to repeat as an All-Conference selection.

"Playing at number one all year, he's had to raise the level of his game, and he's done that," St. Bonaventure tennis coach Michael Bates said of Nery. "He's forcing (his teammates) to come along with him. Playing a lot of nationally ranked opponents, he's gotten experience and realized that he can be as good as them."

Juniors Andrew Hart and Dan Stankovic also will be key leaders on a fairly young team. The duo is 16-9 together in doubles and will help set the standard in the opening doubles matches.

Freshmen Leo Mochizuki, who is 13-15 in singles, and Victor Lecina, who is 9-18, will complete the Bonnies' lineup.

St. Bonaventure enters the A-10 Championship with its top six players fully healthy, which was not the case throughout most of the winter. Freshman Jonathan Luce has won four out of five singles matches since returning from a back injury which sidelined him most of the indoor season.

Bates' team finished the season 4-2 against A-10 opponents and went 7-10 overall through a very competitive indoor schedule. The Bonnies finished the season strong, winning five of their last seven matches.

"I think now that we are completely healthy, we're starting to play our best tennis. That's our goal every year - to play our best going into A-10s," Bates said. "I also believe that we are one of the fittest teams in the A-10. We can stay fresh though the whole weekend."

St. Bonaventure won Atlantic 10 championships in 2001 and 2003.