No. 1 Pirates Prevail Over No. 3 Lynn, 5-2

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - In a match-up of the last two NCAA Division II National Champions, top-ranked and defending champion Armstrong Atlantic State outlasted third-ranked and 2007 National Champions Lynn University 5-2 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Division II Men’s Tennis Championship, Thursday.

AASU (28-1) moves on to the semifinals where they will face No. 6-ranked Hawaii Pacific - 5-1 winners over Drury - at 9:00 a.m. on Friday. The Fighting Knights (19-4) end their season in the quarterfinals against the Pirates for the second-straight season.

A barn-burner from the get-go, each of the three doubles matches to start the contest was decided by 8-5 scores. Lynn struck first as Alessandro Sarra and Julien Carsuzaa topped fifth-ranked Mikk Irdoja and Paul Bishop in the top spot to go up 1-0.

Answering back, the Pirates’ 10th-ranked Rafael Array and Tim Johannsen beat Luca Pavanelli and Tomas Racak in the second flight while Eudaldo Bonet and Akos Torok defeated Alex Voirin and Miloslav Navratil in the third position to take a 2-1 lead going into singles.

Lynn came out firing after the break, taking four of the six first sets against AASU. Array was one of the two Pirates to claim a first set en route to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Navratil in the fifth spot for the 3-1 Armstrong lead.

The Knights responded in the second position, scoring their second point as No. 19 Racak dropped No. 20 Bishop in straight-sets 6-2, 6-4 to cut the deficit to one at 3-2.

Armstrong closed out the match with wins in the third and sixth positions. No. 26 Irodja and Sarra split sets 6-1 apiece to kick off No. 3 singles before Irodja pulled out the 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over a cramping Sarra. Johannsen finished things out for the Pirates with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory over Voirin at No. 6 singles.

The pair of unfinished matches were thrillers as well. In the top spot, second-ranked Bonet and fourth-ranked Carsuzaa were headed into a third set as Carsuzaa won the opener 6-2 and Bonet battled back to claim the second 7-6 (8-6) in the extended tiebreaker.

Pavanelli was on pace to claim the Knights third point before the match was called. He led No. 50 Paul Fitzgerald 7-6 (10-8), 5-2 in the fourth flight when the final point was scored.

(Special thanks to Lynn University for contributing to this release)