Oct. 23, 2003

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The George Mason men's tennis duo of senior Tito Ballester (Lima, Peru) and junior Tim Bainton (Chobham Surrey, UK) went 1-1 Thursday at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Region II Men's Tennis Championships, held at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on the campus of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The pair was the lone doubles entrant for Mason among 32 teams vying for a position at the ITA Indoor Championships, which will be held at Michigan, Nov. 6-9.

Bainton and Ballester defeated Tushar Garg and Andreas Kulscar of American 8-4 in the first round of 32, before falling to Duke's team of Peter Rodrigues and Jonathan Stokke, 8-4, in the round of 16. Bainton and Ballester are 2-2 overall on the season.

Doubles and singles play continues Friday at the ITA Region II Championships. Ballester is the Patriots lone entrant in the singles draw. He begins his quest for his second individual singles title at 2:30 p.m. against North Carolina's Raian Luchici.