For Immediate Release: May 13, 2005
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamton men's tennis falls to No. 10 LSU 4-0 in NCAA first round
Bearcats' record-breaking season comes to end at national tournament

BATON ROUGE, La. - No. 10-ranked LSU (20-8) captured the doubles point and won the first three completed singles matches en route to a 4-0 win over visiting Binghamton (21-6) in the first round of the NCAA Championship Friday afternoon. The defeat ends a record-breaking season for the Bearcats, who captured their third consecutive America East Championship and recorded the most wins (21) and most consecutive wins (12) in program history.

"We played well but they are a great team," head coach Michael Starke said. "I'm proud of our team. We played some pretty good tennis and in some sense, we claimed some victories out there."

The 11th-seeded Tigers opened the match with wins at first and second doubles to secure the opening point. At third doubles, BU's team of juniors Richemn Mourad (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Edwin Gerard (Bayside, N.Y.) led their match 5-4 when it was halted because LSU had secured the team point.

In singles, the Tigers won handily at the third, fourth and fifth spots to clinch the victory. The remaining matches still in progress for much tighter. At No. 1, sophomore Dan Hanegby (Herzliya, Israel), ranked No. 107 in the country, was locked up in a second-set tiebreak with No. 79 Mark Growcott. At sixth singles, junior Brian O'Connor (New Rochelle, N.Y.) won his first set 6-2 and trailed 5-4 when his match was stopped. Mourad also was engaged in a close match at No. 2 against the 36th-ranked player in the country.

"Binghamton brought a good team," LSU coach Jeff Brown said. "It was helpful to us that they were good. We won't have to raise our level that much tomorrow (for a second-round match)."

DOUBLES
1. #6 Mark Growcott/Ken Skupski (LSU) def. Dan Hanegby/Faisal Mohamed (BING) 8-3
2. Colt Gaston/Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Alex Dobrin/Brian O'Connor (BING) 8-4
3. Paul White/Kevin Dessauer (LSU) vs. Richemn Mourad/Edwin Gerard (BING) 4-5, unfinished

SINGLES
1. #79 Mark Growcott (LSU) led #107 Dan Hanegby (BING) 6-3, 6-6, unfinished
2. #36 Ken Skupski (LSU) led Richemn Mourad (BING) 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
3. Peter Richman (LSU) def. Alex Dobrin (BING) 6-0, 6-3
4. Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Faisal Mohamed (BING) 6-3, 6-0
5. Kevin Dessauer (LSU) def. Edwin Gerard (BING) 6-1, 6-0
6. Brian O'Connor (BING) led Paul White (LSU), 2-6, 5-4, unfinished