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Men's Tennis Receives No. 4 Seed in BIG EAST Championship
April 25, 2011 BIG EAST Championship Central | BIG EAST Championship Bracket
CHICAGO -- The No. 60 DePaul men's tennis team earned the fourth seed in the 2011 BIG EAST Championship. The Blue Demons play fifth seeded St. John's on Friday, April 29 at 11 a.m. (CST) at Notre Dame's Courtney Tennis Center outdoor north courts. The league's tournament is played at the Irish's Courtney Tennis Center's north and south courts as well as the Leeper Tennis Park in downtown South Bend. The event runs simultaneously with the women's tournament, April 28-May 1. The championship match for both the men and the women will be played on Sunday with the winner of each earning the league's automatic berth to the NCAA tournamnet. The Blue Demons's fourth seed ties the program's highest seed since DePaul joined the BIG EAST in 2005-06. The Blue Demons also received the fourth seed in 2007 - the same year they faced St. John's in the quarterfinals. DePaul was the fifth seed in 2010, 09, and 08 while the 2006 team was the seventh seed. The Blue Demons are having one of their most successful seasons in recent history and have spent the last 11 weeks in the Campbell's/ITA Team Rankings. The top four seeds in the tournament are all ranked in the April 19 team poll -- Louisville, who is the top seed in the championship, ranks No. 29; one spot behind second-seeded Notre Dame. USF, who DePaul played earlier this season is ranked No. 43 and is the third seed. DePaul (16-8, 1-1 BIG EAST) has won five of its last six matches, while it has faced five ranked opponents this season. The Blue Demons have combined for 117 singles victories while they have tallied 63 doubles wins. Bartosz Jozwiak and George Chanturia both have 21 singles wins and Ben Hartman follows with 20. Jozwiak has won his last four matches and also leads DePaul on the doubles court. Jozwiak has teamed with Sven Kasper for a 24-10 mark while the pair enters the Championship on a five-match winning streak. The Blue Demons and Red Storm are meeting for the second time since 2004. The first meeting came in the quarterfinals of the 2007 BIG EAST Championship when St. John's edged the Blue Demons 4-3 to send DePaul to the consolation bracket. St. John's (16-6, 3-1 BIG EAST) has won eight straight heading into the conference championship, while the Red Storm's 16 wins is a program-best. Milo Hauk, who has played in the No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 positions, leads the team with a 16-6 record and is 8-1 in the No. 2 spot. The Blue Demons reached the semifinals in 2010, were third in 2008, sixth in 2007 and placed seventh in their first BIG EAST Championship in 2006. DePaul's best finish was a second place showing in 2009 after the team knocked out top-seeded Louisville in the semifinals. BIG EAST Championship Seeds
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