Three of Firebird Men’s Tennis Earn All-East Coast Conference Honors

WEST BABYLON, NY – The University of the District of Columbia's Rok Bozic, Alexis Baguelin, and Sebastian Mermersky earned First and Second Team All-East Coast Conference Men's Tennis distinctions, respectively, as voted by the league's coaches and announced Thursday, April 19^th ahead of this weekend's ECC Championship Tournament.

Bozic, a senior from Ljubljana, Slovenia, was 3-2 vs. ECC competition at No. 1 and No. 2 singles this season. He defeated St. Thomas Aquinas' Jakob Ljungberg, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, Daemen College's Second Team All-Conference honoree Rico Ruiz Martinez, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Robert Wesleyan's Guido Janssen, 6-2, 7-6. His two ECC singles losses came to ECC Player of the Year for the 2^nd time in his NYIT career, Matej Selecky, and First Team All-ECC selection, Queens (N.Y.) Gabriel Mendez.

The Slovenian native also teamed up with Diego Pinto, Baguelin and Marco Feligioni for No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to win an impressive five out of five conference games. Among the five wins in conference play in doubles was the fantastic 8-6 win with Pinto at No. 1 doubles over NYIT's pair Francisco Caldos and Maxton Cook. Individually, Bozic finished with a remarkable overall doubles record of 16-5, which included his mesmerizing run in the ITA East Region Championship Tournament which led to a strong 7^th place finish in the ITA Oracle Cup.

Baguelin, for the second consecutive year wins All-ECC Second Team Honors, with a conference singles record of 2-3 at No. 2 and No. 3 singles this season. He defeated Daemen College's Tim Georg, 6-4, 7-5, and Robert Wesleyan's Jose Carillo, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6. All three of his ECC singles losses came against three First Team honorees in NYIT's Francisco Caldas, Queens (N.Y.) Cosme Jubera, and St. Thomas Aquinas College's Andreu Ferragut- Lluch.

The Le Houlme, France native finished the season 8-7 overall in doubles play. He went 4-6 at No. 2 doubles with his partner Ander Murillo, 1-1 with Bozic, and 3-0 with Mermersky. In conference play Baguelin finished 4-1 overall in doubles play.

Finally, Mermersky, a freshman from Washington, DC, was also announced as Second Team All-ECC selection. With injuries stopping his introduction early in the season, Mermersky competed in three ECC singles matches at which he won all three at No. 1 and No. 2 singles to help the Firebirds push for the ECC Championship Tournament. Wins over St. Thomas Aquinas College's Aaron Stahl, 6-2, 6-4, Daemen College's David Gonzalez Villegas, 6-2, 6-4, and Robert Wesleyan's Hugo Ball-Greene, 6-2, 6-1.

The Washington, DC native also saw doubles action in those three matches winning all three with his doubles partner Baguelin at No. 1 and No. 2. He finished the season with a 3-0 overall record in doubles play.

Bozic, Baguelin, and Mermersky will lead the No. 3 seeded Firebirds in their battle against No. 2 seed and No. 3 in the East Region Queens College (N.Y.) in the ECC Championship Tournament semifinals on Friday, April 20^th at 2PM.