April 18, 2011

George Washington / Temple

The Duquesne University men's tennis team finished fourth at the 2011 Atlantic 10 Championship held April 15-17 in St. Louis.

After a bye in the opening round and defeating St. Bonaventure, 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Friday, the fourth-seeded Dukes fell 4-0 to top-seeded and eventual champion George Washington on Saturday, then narrowly lost to third-seeded Temple, 4-3 on Sunday in the third place match.

Aram Abgaryan, Pete Carpenter and Steve Herchko each won two matches in singles play at the tournament.

"I am very proud of this team and how they competed all year,' head coach Rob Castille said. "We dealt with a lot of injuries throughout the entire year and there were many times that we didn't have enough guys to field a full squad. I don't think many people would have picked us to finish in the top 4 again but it speaks volumes for the heart and determination of this team. One of the main reasons is because we had great leadership from my two captains Kyle O'Leary and Steve Herchko. To have the honor of being the first Duquesne men's tennis team to go back-to-back semi-finals in the A-10s is something we are very proud of. We are building a great program here and I look forward to the future. This is a really special group of guys and I am lucky to have been able to coach them."