Monday, 04/09/2012

WASHINGTON – George Washington’s Francisco Dias was named Atlantic 10 men’s tennis Rookie Performer of the Week on Monday after posting 2-0 records at No. 1 singles and doubles this past weekend.

The award marks the fourth weekly honor for the freshman – the most for any A-10 rookie this season – and is his second award in as many weeks. The Lisbon, Portugal, native is currently enjoying a team-high eight-match singles winning streak, while he and No. 1 doubles partner senior Ugur Atalay have won seven straight matches.

Dias opened the weekend with a three-set singles victory over James Madison’s Greg Vladimirsky by set scores of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.  He and Atalay then downed the Dukes’ Vladimirsky and Bertrand Moulin, 8-5.

In GW's final match of the regular season on Sunday, Dias helped the Colonials upset No. 73 Radford, 4-3, when he defeated the Highlanders’ Nick Sayer in a battle of nationally ranked opponents. Dias is ranked No. 100 in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, while Sayer is No. 78. Dias and Atalay then teamed up to earn a 9-8 tiebreaker victory over Sayer and Thomas Dehaen.

Dias will compete in his first Atlantic 10 Championship this weekend when GW heads to Mason, Ohio, from Friday, April 13 – Sunday, April 15 seeking to repeat its 2011 conference title and return to the NCAA Tournament.  The conference tournament will be held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center just outside of Cincinnati.

- GW -