NEWPORT NEWS, Va. –   The Richmond Spiders have been chosen as the top seed in the 2017 Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Tennis Championship, the league announced Tuesday.  The championship begins Thursday, April 27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

The Spiders finished their spring campaign at 23-3, and dominated the court throughout the season going on a 22-game win streak, never losing on their home court. Richmond is led by seniors Jacob Dunbar and Alexandre Felisa at the No.1 doubles spot, where they helped the team secure 23 doubles points on the season. Dunbar, who was ranked nationally at times this season, garnered 20 singles victories at the No.1 spot. The Spiders earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of No. 8 George Mason/No. 9 Duquesne on Friday at 12:30 pm.  Richmond is looking for their first A-10 title since 2006.

Defending champion, George Washington (16-6), is seeded second and will look to claim its sixth championship in seven years. The Colonials have won seven of their last eight matches this spring. GW is led by senior Julius Tverijonas who is 25-9 overall on the season at the No. 1 spot. In doubles play, Tverijonas and Chris Fletcher lead the team with a 17-5 overall record heading into the championship. The Colonials also get a bye, and will take on the winner of No. 7 Saint Joseph’s/No. 10 St. Bonaventure on Friday at 4:00 pm.

The third seed of the championship is VCU (11-11), who will get the winner of No. 6 Saint Louis/No. 11 Fordham on Friday at 4:00 pm. The Rams are led by senior doubles partners, Marten Jonsson and Daryl Monfils who have a 14-5 overall record, primarily playing at the No. 1 spot. VCU fell in the 2016 championship match, 4-3 to GW.

Davidson (16-7) earns the final first-round bye as a four seed in the A-10 Championship and will face the winner of the No. 5 Dayton/No. 12 La Salle on Friday at 12:30pm. The Wildcats rattled off four victories against conference foes throughout the spring season. In last year’s championship, the ‘Cats dropped a tough 4-2 decision to Dayton in the quarterfinals.

Thursday’s first round action opens with No. 8 George Mason (12-9) and No. 9 Duquesne (6-13) and No. 5 Dayton (13-8) versus No. 12 La Salle (4-14) at 9:00 am. The winners will move on to Friday’s quarterfinals against Richmond and Davidson, respectively.

In the afternoon session, No. 6 Saint Louis (7-10) will face off against No. 11 Fordham (11-8) and No. 7 Saint Joseph’s (13-10) will challenge No. 10 St. Bonaventure (8-14) at 12:30 pm. The winners earn a spot in Friday’s second set of quarterfinal matches, and will take on VCU and George Washington, respectively.

Every match of the championship will be played at the new, state-of-the-art USTA National Campus, which is hosting the A-10 Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championship for the first time. Admission will be free for the A-10 Championships.  

The semifinals will be played Saturday at 2:00 pm and the championship finale is Sunday at 1:00 pm and will be broadcast live on ESPN3. The winner of the 2017 Atlantic 10 Men’s Tennis Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.