Oct. 27, 2002

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - George Mason University sent two men's tennis players to the Omni Hotels Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Region II Championships held at North Carolina Oct. 23-27.

Tito Ballester (Lima, Peru) and Stephan Dufils (Paris France) represented the Patriots at the event, which pitted 64 of the best players from the region into a single-elimination tournament.

Ballester, a junior, was placed in the top half of the main draw where he defeated Rob Haywood of Davidson in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the round of 32.

The transfer from Winthrop next met No. 7 seed Pedro Nieto, who plays No. 1 singles for Colonial Athletic Association foe Virginia Commonwealth and is ranked 74th nationally in preseason collegiate ITA rankings. Ballester fought hard in the first set, sending it to a tiebreak, where he lost 7-6(5). Nieto then took command in the second frame, winning it by a 6-2 score to advance.

Ballester, who plays No. 1 singles for Mason, improved to 7-3 overall and 6-2 in tournament matches on the season.

In doubles action, Dufils, a sophomore from Heritage Academy in South Carolina, teamed with Ballester to participate in the main draw. The tandem lost to the draw's top seed in VCU's duo of Florian Marquardt and the aforementioned Nieto by a score of 8-2. Marquardt and Nieto are ranked eighth nationally by the ITA.

As Mason's No. 1 doubles team, Ballester and Dufils are now 4-3 overall and 2-3 in tournaments.

Mason's men's team concludes its fall season with a 1-1 dual match record. The Patriots open their spring campaign Feb. 15 at Navy at the Big Vanilla Indoor Club in Annapolis, MD.