New York, N.Y.— After a highly successful regular season in which they finished 9-4 (6-2 CUNYAC), the John Jay men's tennis team is prepared to battle for the coveted City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) men's tennis championship. The Bloodhounds finished the 2009 regular season with a third place finish in CUNYAC and as the No. 3 seed will face No. 6 seed Lehman College in the opening round of the tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (NTC) at 4 p.m. The tournament is scheduled to get underway on Tue. Apr. 28.

If the Bloodhounds win, they advance into the semifinal round and will play the winner between No. 2 seed Hunter College and No. 7 seed Brooklyn College on Thu. Apr. 30 at NTC at 4 p.m. And if John Jay is victorious in that match, they will play for the 2009 championship on Sun. May 3 at noon once again at NTC.

This season the Bloodhounds have competed against a vigorous schedule which has included wins against highly touted non conference opponents, Western Connecticut State, Farmingdale State and Albertus Magnus College, as well as fellow CUNYAC foes Brooklyn College, Lehman College, York College, New York City Tech and Baruch College..

And John Jay's renewal to prominence this season has been spearheaded by second flight player Josh Pagan (Douglaston, NY, Benjamin Cardozo). The junior transfer has gone unblemished this season as he finished singles play 9-0 overall and 7-3 in doubles. The Bloodhounds have also gotten a lot of production from top flight player, and reigning Rookie of the Year, Dong Shao (Flushing, NY, Patchogue-Medford). Shao has followed up on last season's magnificent year going 9-3 against the opponent's top flight players.

Other players for John Jay to watch for include Jonathan Cedeno (Guayaquil, Ecuador, Long Island City), Derrick Chung (San Diego, CA, Rancho Buena Vista), Maurice Edwards (Brooklyn, NY, Bronx Science), Rogelio Gutierrez (Brooklyn, NY, Leon M. Goldstein), Matt Hicks (Queens Village, NY, Benjamin Cardozo), Akil James (Ozone Park, NY, Aviation), Milan Pavsic (Ridgewood, NY, Aviation), Tim Smith (Poughkeepsie, NY, Our Lady of Lourdes), Michael Sohm (Stone Ridge, NY, Rondout Valley) and James Sun (New York, NY, Francis Lewis).