Stonehill Earns Second Straight Berth And Third In Last Four Seasons In NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships, Eighth-Seeded Skyhawks To Host Top-Seeded Concordia In East Regional Play Next Thursday

April 26, 2007

Easton, Mass.-- For the second straight season and the third time in the last four years, Stonehill College has earned a berth in the 64-team NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship field and will also host East Regional contests on campus for the second straight spring next week.

Head Coach Peter Miller's Skyhawks, who finished as the regular season runner-up in Northeast-10 Conference play at 15-5 overall, are seeded eighth in the East Regional and will take on top-seeded Concordia (N.Y.) (14-2) in first round action next Thursday, May 3rd on the Stonehill Courts beginning at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Thursday's other first round East Regional match will pit fourth-seeded Assumption (16-0) against fifth-seeded Dowling (8-6) beginning at 11:00 a.m. EDT, with the two first round winners meeting in second round action next Friday, May 4th on the Stonehill Courts beginning at 11:00 a.m. EDT for the right to advance to the national quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 9th in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Stonehill, which sports a 30-11 overall mark in the last two seasons combined, tied the school single-season record for wins that was set last spring once again in 2007, as the Skyhawks finished 10-1 in Northeast-10 play for the second straight year as well under Miller, who collected his 200th career triumph last Thursday with a 5-0 league quarterfinal round victory over Pace. Next Thursday's first round match-up with Concordia's Clippers will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams, as Stonehill dropped a 9-0 decision to Concordia back on April 7th in Bronxville, N.Y.

Six Skyhawks earned all-Northeast-10 accolades for their performances this season, led by freshman Mike Mashkevich (Framingham, Mass./Framingham), who was tabbed as the conference's 2007 Freshman of the Year after posting a 27-10 combined mark in singles and doubles play. Senior co-captains Matt Grabala (Bristol, Conn./Kingswood-Oxford) and Andy DeVita (Milford, Mass./Milford), sophomores Will Herchel (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) and Dustin Marshall (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling) along with freshman Mike Leone (Cataumet, Mass./Bourne) joined Mashkevich in earning all-Northeast-10 honors as well for Stonehill in both singles and doubles action.

For more information on the 2007 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships, log-on to www.ncaasports.com.