Box Score (PDF)

FAIRFAX, Va. – After a series of frustrating 4-3 defeats this season, the George Mason University men's tennis team wrapped up the regular season slate with an exhilarating 4-3 victory over Saint Joseph's Saturday afternoon at the Mason Tennis Courts.
 
Mason has been competitive and close in nearly every non-win this season, with six losses decided by a single point. So it felt great for the Green & Gold to come out on top in a close one heading into next week's Atlantic 10 Championship in Orlando. The win provides some positive momentum, as well as a good chance to improve the team's seed in the event.
 
"This was a big win for us today," head coach Jimmy Davis said. "We needed this heading into conference and the guys stepped up and got it done. I'm proud of the determination we had in the big moments, and we made a great adjustment getting our strength to our opponent weakness when we needed it most. I'm always proud of my guys, but today they showed me how bad we want it. We're looking forward to getting down to Orlando to compete Wednesday."
 
The Hawks struck first in the match, claiming the doubles point with victories at No. 2 and No. 1.
 
Mason quickly tied up the score, as Carter Bradford rolled at No. 4 singles. One of the top freshmen in the A-10, Bradford cruised in straight sets over Massart of SJU, 6-1, 6-0. He finishes his first conference regular season with a 5-3 singles mark.
 
The Patriots took a 2-1 lead after sophomore Jakob Nielsen won in nearly as convincing of a fashion. The powerful Canadian fought off an early break with service breaks of his own on the Hawks' Andre Fick. Nielsen settled down to ultimately win the first set, 6-3. He then powered through the second and picked up a 6-2 victory.
 
The Hawks tied it up once again with a win at No. 1, then went up 3-2 after a victory at No. 2. In that match, senior Daniel Gutierrez battled back after losing the first set (3-6) by picking up a 6-4 victory in the second. But he ultimately could not finish off the win, falling 6-4 in the third.
 
Mason thus needed to capture the last two singles matches to win, and that's exactly what the Patriots did.
 
Senior Giuliano Buzoianu continued his excellent play at the No. 6 position, winning easily (6-2, 6-0) to pick up his third conference singles victory of the season.
 
Then, with everything tied up at 3-3, the match came down to No. 5 singles where senior Pally Ray has been rounding into form as A-10 Championships approach.
 
He pulled out a gritty victory on Saturday to continue that strong play. After a late service break by his opponent, Ray entered a first set tiebreak, where he put together a poised 7-4 win. After falling in the second set, Ray and opponent Dan Tan held serve for the entire third set. That included a crucial deuce point with Tan leading 5-4, as Ray picked up the point on serve to keep the match going. Then in the tiebreak, Ray held his own, winning 7-3 to send Mason home with the win.
 
The Patriots will now wait to learn their A-10 seed and opponent, before opening the tournament Thursday at either 9 a.m., noon or 3 p.m. at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.