No. 1 Pirates Open Round Of 16 With 5-0 Win Over Queens (NY)

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - The top-ranked and defending DII national champion Armstrong Atlantic State men's tennis team moved into the quarterfinals with a 5-0 opening-round win over No. 40 Queens (NY) on Wednesday morning at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs.

The Pirates (27-1) now advance to face No. 3-ranked Lynn, 5-0 winners over Kutztown, at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday in one of four quarterfinal matches. AASU defeated Lynn, 7-2, in the earlier matchup this season in Boca Raton.

AASU took a 3-0 lead in the match after sweeping all of the doubles matches. The No. 1 duo of Paul Bishop and Mikk Irdoja won, 8-1, over Patryk Polus and Danilo Hiraoka, while the No. 2 duo of Rafael Array and Tim Johannsen defeated Fabio Minami and James Preston. No. 3 Eudaldo Bonet and Akos Torok completed the sweep with an 8-3 win over Dave Burstein and Jesse Smith.

Irdoja opened up singles play quickly with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Burstein at No. 3 singles, then Bonet clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Polus at No. 1 singles.

The win was a milestone for head coach Simon Earnshaw, who picked up his 200th victory as the AASU men's tennis head man - Earnshaw is now 200-70 in his 10th season as the head men's coach.