Morehouse netters earn NCAA invite for fourth straight year

The Morehouse College tennis team has earned an invitation to participate in the NCAA Division II tournament for the fourth consecutive year.

The 19-4 Maroon Tigers, will play in the South Region tournament, May 4-5, in Jacksonville, Florida. The three-team regional consists of top-seeded and 13th-ranked Barry University (19-3), second-seeded Francis Marion University (11-9), and third-seeded Morehouse College.

Morehouse will play Francis Marion at 2:00 p.m. on Friday (May 4), and then the winner of the match will face Barry University on Saturday (May 5) for the regional title.

The 56-team NCAA tournament consists of 16 regionals. Each regional champion will advance to the Sweet Sixteen, May 10-13, at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida.

The Maroon Tigers, under the leadership of head coach Willie G. Shaw, recently won their 24th Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tennis title. It was Morehouse's 24th title in the last 25 years.

The Maroon Tigers are led by Erik Graves (Fr, Decatur, GA) who finished the season at 20-2. Following Graves with the second best records were Ryan Shade (Fr, Farmington, MI) and Matthew Jones (Fr, Los Angeles, Ca) with 18-3 records. Senior Damien Hughes (Sr, Anquilla, British, V.I.) completed his final year with a 15-5 record. Lorenzo Brooks (So, Memphis, TN) and Richard Makerson (So, Augusta, GA) posted 14-7 and 13-1 records in 2001.

Front Page

Newsroom Index