Aleksandar Grabovac Earns ECC Men’s Tennis Player of the Year; Dickie Mahaffey Named Coach of the Year

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – University of the District of Columbia senior Aleksandar Grabovac has earned the East Coast Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Year award and head coach T. Richard "Dickie" Mahaffey III was named the Coach of the Year, as voted on by the league's coaches. In addition, juniors Ike Kiro and Miguel Uzcategui joined Grabovac on the All-ECC First Team.

Currently the No. 8 ranked singles player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's East Region rankings, Grabovac (Psychology - Ljubljana, Slovenia/Gimnazija Euro Sola Ljubljana) boasts a 12-4 record at the No. 1 singles flight and went 4-1 in ECC play to help the Firebirds top the ECC regular season standings. He was nearly as dominant in doubles action, teaming with sophomore Simon Andersson to post a 9-4 record overall and 4-1 mark in conference action. Grabovac also reached the quarterfinals of the ITA East Regional "A" Singles Tournament in the fall 2012.

Mahaffey, who was also named Men's Tennis Coach of the Year in 2011 and Women's Coach of the Year in 2012, guided his squad to a 10-3 overall record this season, including a 5-0 mark against conference opponents. The Firebirds clinched the program's first ever ECC regular season title in just their fourth season in the conference.

Both players on District of Columbia's very successful No. 2 doubles team, Kiro and Uzcategui, also joined Grabovac on the All-ECC First Team. The pair started off the spring 0-2, but battled back to win eight straight doubles matches, including impressive wins at Division I Georgetown and in the season finale against Concordia. Individually, Kiro (Business Management – Milnerton Ridge, South Africa/Milnerton HS) finished 10-3 in doubles play and 9-5 in singles action (4-1 ECC). Uzcategui (Electrical Engineering – Valencia, Venezuela/Colegio Sagrado Corazon), who teamed with Carlos Quiroga for the ITA "B" Doubles Tournament championship in the fall, finished with a very impressive doubles record of 15-2. He was also 10-4 (4-0 ECC) in singles play.

The Firebirds, a No. 1 seed in this weekend's ECC Championship Tournament, will play No. 4 seed St. Thomas Aquinas today at 11 a.m. in Flushing, NY. With a win, District of Columbia will return to the ECC Championship Final for a second consecutive season.