No. 1 Pirates Advance To NCAA Championship Title Match !

The No. 1-ranked and defending DII national champion Armstrong Atlantic State men's tennis team will play for a possible back-to-back national title on Saturday after closing out a 5-1 win over No. 6 Hawaii Pacific on Friday at Sanlando Park.

The Pirates got off to a great start in singles with five out of six first-set wins. No. 2-ranked Eudaldo Bonet gave AASU its first singles point with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 28-ranked Nikola Petrov at No. 1 singles. Tim Johannsen then followed with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Aleksandar Markov at No. 6 singles. No. 50-ranked Paul Fitzgerald (pictured) followed with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 37-ranked Daniel Luedi at No. 4 singles to clinch the match and send AASU into the finals!

Fitzgerald, a native of Ireland and a transfer from Abraham Baldwin, has had an outstanding first year as a Pirate - his win today improves his spring dual match record to 22-0.

Up next - No. 2-ranked Barry, a 5-3 winner over Concordia (N.Y.), in a rematch of the national championship from a season ago in Houston.