April 21, 2004

Fairfax, Va-The regular season ended for the George Mason men's tennis team on April 17th with a loss to conference rival Delaware, 6-1. The Patriots ended the season with a 2-17 record, 1-5 in the conference.

Senior Tito Ballester (Lima, Peru/Santa Margarita) ended the regular season with a victory against Sanjay Khindri, 1-6, 6-3, 4-5 (retired), upping his record to 14-12 on the season. The Blue Hens won the remaining singles matches in straight sets.

In doubles play, George Mason changed their regular line-up, as Tim Bainton (Chobham Surrey, United Kingdom/St. Georges) and Farshad Garakani (Arlington, Va./Yorktown) were matched against Delaware's number one team of Khindri and Tully, but lost 8-2. Ballester played with Eric Vogel (Fairfax Station/W.T. Woodson) and lost their match, 8-3. The number three team of Oleg Sirghii (Chisinau, Moldova/Highland School) and Phu Le (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam/Le Hong Phong) lost to Wayne and Edwards, 8-2.

The Patriots are seeded ninth in the CAA tournament, which begins Thursday in Williamsburg, Va. Mason will be matched against eight seeded Towson, a team the Patriots lost to in the regular season, 4-3. The winner gets top-seeded VCU on Friday.

Delaware	6
George Mason	1
(4/17/04 at GMU Tennis Courts)
Singles
#1 Tito Ballester (GM) d. Sanjay Khindri, 1-6, 6-3, 4-5 ret.
#2 John Tully def. Tim Bainton (GMU), 6-3, 6-0
#3 Adam Liebman def. Farshad Garakani (GMU), 6-4, 7-5
#4 Josh Ditman def. Oleg Sirghii (GMU), 6-1, 6-3
#5 Ari Zweig def. Eric Vogel (GMU), 6-0, 6-0
#6 Philip Wayne def. Miles Hughes (GMU), 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
#1 Khindri/Tully def. Bainton/Garakani (GMU), 8-2
#2 Ditman/Zweig def. Ballester/Vogel (GMU), 8-3
#3 Wayne/Edwards def. Sirghii/Le (GMU), 8-2