Syracuse, N.Y. – The 29th-ranked Le Moyne College men's tennis has earned its first-ever berth in the NCAA Championships round of 16 with a 4-1 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas College at the NCAA East Regional on Tuesday afternoon at Drumlins Tennis Club.

With the victory, the Dolphins will now compete in the NCAA Championships in Altamonte Springs, Florida starting on Wednesday, May 18. The team's opponent will be announced by the NCAA once all 16 berths have been claimed on Tuesday.

"It was a huge win today at Drumlins for the men with our first-ever qualification for nationals," said head coach Jeff Lonczak '03. "Hats off to STAC, first and foremost, as it's an honor to compete against (coaches) Matt (Capell), Dan (Rockhill) and Neil (Tarangioli). I've always strived to be in the same stratosphere that the Concordia teams (where Rockhill and Tarangioli coached before the school was purchased by Iona last year) occupied the past 25 years. Hopefully some day we can achieve that level of success. As for today, we had key wins across the board from seniors, grad students and freshman alike. It was a true team effort. We're excited for the opportunity to compete nationally in the greater Orlando area."

Le Moyne (22-1) claimed the point in the doubles competition for the 21st straight match. St. Thomas Aquinas' Eduard Simo and Ludovico Truffelli defeated graduate student Tom Jarry (Paris, France/CNED Toulouse/Emmanuel) and junior Ethan Miller (Swindon, England/Cirencetser Kingshill School) at the first position, 6-3, to put the Spartans in front. Graduate student Manuel Righi (Bologna, Italy/IPC Manfredi - ITC Tanari/Concordia (N.Y.)/Universita di Bologna) and freshman Peter Hatton (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt/Club Med Academics/Army West Point) edged Valentin Baranyi and Tony Khamassi 7-6 (7-3) at the second spot to even the competition at one. Fifth years Jared Howard (Malmesbury, South Africa/Homeschooled/ASA College) and James Howard (Malmesbury, South Africa/Homeschooled/ASA College) clinched the point with a 6-4 victory at the third position over Maximilian Kendler and Odysseas Papaioannou.

The Dolphins, who have won 22 consecutive matches, captured the necessary three points while only dropping one in the singles competition. At the second position, Righi tallied a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kendler to improve to 18-0 on the year. Lennart Lehmann got the Spartans in the win column with a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the third spot over Jared Howard. Hatton picked up his 16th win of the season and put the Dolphins up 3-1 by registering a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory at the fourth position over Papaioannou. Junior Kacper Piekarek (Wroclaw, Poland/Autorskrie Licea Artystyczne Akademickie/Missouri-Kansas City) clinched the match for the Dolphins with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Truffelli at the fifth spot for his team-leading 20th win of the year, which is the second-most by a Dolphin over the last 20 years. Jarry and Miller were each leading in the third set after splitting their first two sets.