FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason University men's tennis team begins its 2024 fall season at the Mary Washington Kickoff Classic this weekend in Fredericksburg.
 
The Patriots will compete in singles and doubles tournament action on Saturday and Sunday on the UMW Campus. In addition to the host Eagles, the Green & Gold also will square off against foes from Longwood and Johns Hopkins.
 
George Mason returns six letter winners from a 2023-24 team which posted a 3-1 record in A-10 play and earned the No. 5 seed in the league championship. The .750 conference win percentage was the best for the Patriots since joining the A-10 in 2013-14.
 
Junior and two-time All-A-10 selection Monil Lotlikar will lead the Green & Gold this season. Last season, he tallied a 3-1 A-10 singles record at the top spot and notched 15 singles wins overall, including an A-10 Tournament triumph against Saint Louis. He also posted an impressive 13-5 dual record at No. 1 doubles alongside Niza Simunyola. His singles victories included wins against foes from Villanova, James Madison, Saint Joseph's, St. Bonaventure and Fordham, among others.
 
Simunyola also returns for George Mason this season after notching a 14-9 overall singles mark last season and eight wins at the No. 3 spot. He partnered with Lotlikar to create one of the most formidable doubles tandems in the Atlantic 10 last season.
 
Mason's No. 2 singles stalwart Jacco Arends also returns for his senior campaign. The 2024 A-10 All-Academic pick tallied team bests in overall singles wins (16) and dual triumphs (11). He went 9-6 at No. 2 singles and won both of his Atlantic 10 singles matches.
 
Junior Zavan Fahim also returns after 11 singles wins last season. He also tallied an impressive 4-1 mark in dual doubles, including a 4-0 record alongside Arends.
 
Senior Dustin Ha and sophomore Rayan El khalifi will look to increase their roles this season while building on solid 2023-24 campaigns in Fairfax.
 
The Patriots will also welcome two student-athletes to the roster this season. Junior Ekansh Kumar, a Vienna, Va., native, joins the Patriots after competing for Indiana University in 2022-23. He tallied a 12-9 record at No. 6 singles and 13-9 mark at No. 3 doubles as part of the Hoosier roster that season.
 
Mason also brings in freshman Shari Saeed, who hails from Woodbridge, Va., and attended Forest Park High School. He is a 4-star recruit ranked at No. 81 nationally by TennisRPI.
 
Following this weekend's opening tournament, the Patriots will travel to Annapolis for the Joe Hunt Invite Sept. 13-15 on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy.