April 5, 2008

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The sixth seeded Richmond men's tennis team fell to third seed Charlotte, Friday, in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Championships, 4-1. The Spiders took down eleventh seed La Salle in the first round of play to face the 49ers, who earned a bye as one of the top four teams in the conference.

Richmond earned its point in the match in doubles action taking home wins of two of the three matches. Drew Crank teamed up with Michael Sommer to take the Spiders' number one position against Charlotte's Archer/Clinard duo. Crank and Sommer pulled out the close win, 8-6.

Doug Banker and William Minter kept things going for the Spiders also winning in doubles play. The pair took down Charlotte's, Bernhoerster team in a hard fought 9-7 decision.

The Spiders are now in contention for fifth place in the tournament among three other teams Rhode Island, Duquesne and Saint Louis. Richmond will see tenth seeded Saint Louis first Saturday, April 5 at 2 p.m. ET. Duquesne and Rhode Island will also go head to head Saturday for an 11 a.m. ET match.

# 3 CHARLOTTE 4, #6 RICHMOND 1

Doubles
1. Crank/Sommer (UR) def. Archer/Clinard (CHA) - 8-6
2. Banker/Minter (UR) def. F. Bernhoerster/M. Bernhoerster (CHA) - 9-7
3. Anders/Hutchinson (CHA) vs. Louis/Berry (UR) - 8-8, 1-5 (DNF)

Singles
1. F. Bernhoerster (CHA) def. Doug Banker (UR) - 7-5, 6-4
2. Clinard (CHA) def. Chris Louis (UR) - 6-1, 7-5
3. Anders (CHA) vs. Michael Sommer (UR) - 7-6, 2-1 (DNF)
4. Cuellar (CHA) def. Sami Belakhlef (UR) - 6-2, 6-3
5. William Minter (UR) vs. M. Bernhoerster (CHA) - 7-5, 4-4 (DNF)
6. Huynh (CHA) def. David Berry (UR) - 7-5, 6-2