Coach Dickie Mahaffey was Named Coach of the Year in the East Coast Conference
Coach Dickie Mahaffey was Named Coach of the Year in the East Coast Conference

UDC Men's Tennis Honored by the ECC; Mahaffey Named Coach of the Year, Uzcatequi is Rookie of the Year

April 22, 2011: Washington,DC: The University of the District of Columbia Men's Tennis program reached a significant level of success yesterday when Coach Dickie Mahaffey was named the East Coast Conference Coach of the Year and Freshman, Miguel Uzcatequi (Electrical Engineering Major-Valencia,Venezuela) won the league's Rookie of the Year Award. The 13 and 5 season (4-2 in the ECC) was an eleven win turnaround for UDC from 2009-10. Mahaffey and Uzcatequi were not the only Firebirds honored as the year came to a close.

Tomas Gajdusek (Jr. Finance Major-Prague,Czech Republic) made the East Coast Conference Men's Tennis All-Conference First Team along with teammate Bruno Reich (Jr.Business Mgmt.Major-Rio de Janeiro,Brazil). Gajdusek was a strong #1 for UDC all year and Reich won the Rookie of the Week in the conference twice during the season.

Uzcatequi and fellow frosh, Carlos Quiroga (Electrical Engineering Major-Valencia,Venezuela) made the ECC Second Team. Quiroga was ECC Rookie of the Week twice during 2010-11. Miguel Uzcatequi, besides getting league-wide Rookie Honors was a one time Player of the Week as well as one time Rookie of the Week. He added to his impressive initial campaign with a 13 and 3 record in both third flight singles play and doubles play. Miguel was also the ITA East Regional Men's B Draw Champion in his first year as a Firebird. Coach Mahaffey on Uzcatequi's year: " Miguel has established himself as one of the toughest competitors in the East Region.  I am looking forward to having him back and building on this success."

Dickie Mahaffey is in his second year as head coach of Men's and Women's Tennis at the University. His strong recruiting efforts have brought the Firebirds an impressive two year rise in the East Coast Conference, as well as a No.4 ranking in the East Region of Divsion II Men's Tennis. Mahafffey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and furthered his studies at Georgetown University in Financial and Managerial Accounting. He was hired by Director of Athletics, Patricia Thomas in 2009, coming from Georgetown where he was the assistant tennis coach there for three years.

Mahaffey noted on the occasion of his award: "It's an honor to be named by your peers. Ultimately it is a testament to the accomplishments and hard work of the team." About the season past he added: "To say that I am pleased with how the season turned out would be an understatement.  Our goal was to go and compete as hard as we could and finish with a winning record.  To have our only two NCAA Division II loses come against #26 Queens College (NY) and be ranked #4 in the East Region is truly something to be proud of."