May 17, 2006

MOBILE, Ala. - The top four seeds blew through the quarterfinal round of the 2006 NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship at the Mobile Tennis Center, advancing to the semifinals on Thursday.  In its third year at this location, the tournament is being staged May 15-19.

Defending national champion Azusa Pacific opened the day with a 5-0 victory against Berry College (Ga.).  It is the second match of the tournament that APU won 5-0.  Auburn University Montgomery (Ala.) also posted a 5-0 victory to end unseeded Vanguard University's (Calif.) run and become the only other team not to drop a match during the tournament. 

The tournament's No. 3 Embry-Riddle University (Fla.) ousted last year's runner-up College of Santa Fe (N.M.) 5-1 to advance to the semifinals.  Two of Santa Fe's players had to default due to sickness.  Fourth-seeded Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.) was the last to advance by eliminating Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) 5-1.  After a 2-1 split in doubles, FHU made the most of the first two single matches to grab the victory.

Top-seeded APU will face Freed-Hardeman Thursday's semifinals while AUM will battle Embry-Riddle.  The meetings will be the first of the season for both semifinal match-ups.  Both matches will begin at 1 p.m. (Central) with the winners facing off at 1 p.m. on Friday.

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