NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The VCU Rams have been chosen as the top seed in the 2021 Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Tennis Championship, the league announced Tuesday. The championship begins Thursday, April 29 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The defending champion Rams, and winners of the last three titles, finished their spring campaign with a 14-4 record and a No. 40 ITA ranking. The pairing of Inigo Torre Stable and Rayane Stable made their third straight appearance in the ITA Doubles rankings at No. 63, and own a 9-2 record in dual play. Stable (13), No. 84 Lleyton Croje (10) and Charles Bertimon (10) all earned double-digit singles victories while two other Rams picked up nine wins this spring. VCU earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of the No. 8 Duquesne/No. 9 Saint Joseph’s on Friday at 9:00 am.
Dayton (12-5), is seeded second and received a bye, and will take on the winner of the No. 7 Saint Louis/No. 10 St. Bonaventure on Friday at 12:30 pm. The Flyers won 12 of their last 13 contests and are led by sophomore Connor Bruce, who went 12-4 at the top singles position.
The third seed of the championship goes to Richmond (6-8), who will get the winner of the No. 6 Fordham/No. 11 La Salle on Friday at noon. The Spiders played top competition throughout the season against No. 40 VCU, No. 48 Liberty, Old Dominion, William & Mary twice and James Madison. UR is led by graduate student Matt Fernandez, who returned with a 6-7 record at No. 1 singles and junior John Walsh, who holds an 8-5 overall record and was 4-2 at No. 3 singles.
Davidson (5-12), the four seed, and George Mason (3-5), the fifth seed, each earn a first-round bye and will face off against each other Friday at 9:30 am. The Wildcats got a spark from freshman Maxwell Kachkarov, who won eight singles matches and Alejandro Solares, who was twice named A-10 Rookie of the Week. The Patriots pairing of Ryan Charles/Rithik Sardana went 5-3 to lead George Mason in doubles play.
Thursday’s first round action opens with No. 8 Duquesne (5-5) and No. 9 Saint Joseph’s (9-7) at 9:00 am. The winners move on to face top-seeded VCU.
In the afternoon session, No. 6 Fordham (5-4) will square off against No. 11 La Salle (3-10) at noon, and No. 7 Saint Louis (9-6) will challenge No. 10 St. Bonaventure (4-5) at 12:30 pm. The winners earn a spot in Friday’s second set of quarterfinal matches, and will take on Richmond and Dayton, respectively.
The semifinals will be played Saturday at 10:00 am and 10:30 am, and the championship finale is Sunday at 10:00 am and will be broadcasted on ESPN+, the home for live Atlantic 10 action. Admission will be free for the A-10 Championships and is limited to 400 spectators at one time.
The winner of the 2021 Atlantic 10 Men’s Tennis Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Sunday's championship final will be streamed in conjunction with the USTA on ESPN+, and will be available for international viewers here. All other rounds will be streamed through the USTA website's Playsight system, which allows viewers to select the court they wish to watch.