New York, N.Y.— The John Jay College of Criminal Justice men's tennis team defeated York College 5-0 in a quarterfinal round matchup at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon to advance into the semifinal round. The Bloodhounds, the No. 3 seed for the conference championship, will face No. 2 Hunter College in the semis. And with a win over Hunter, the Bloodhounds will advance to the championship, for the first time since the 2006 season, and face the winner of the other semifinal round match between No. 1 College of Staten Island and No. 4 Baruch College.

Both the semifinals and final will be contested at the National Tennis Center at 7 p.m. The semifinals are slated to be played tonight, May 4, and the championship will be contested on May 6.

“I think we've got a great shot to win the whole thing,” said John Jay head men's tennis coach, Craig Davidson. “ Everyone has to play well and focus in on the task at hand. The guys are playing their best tennis right now. We are going to give it our best shot.”

The Bloodhounds finished the regular season at 9-3 overall as they now sit at 10-3 on the season after their quarterfinal round win over York.

John Jay finished 6-2 in conference play with its lone two blemishes coming at the hands of Hunter and the College of Staten Island. The Bloodhounds lost 7-2 to Hunter during the regular season on Sat. April 10, and were defeated by the College of Staten Island 5-4 on April 22. The Bloodhounds beat Baruch 5-4 on April 13.

So far this season, John Jay has been led by its No's. 1 and 2 players, Josh Pagan (Douglaston, NY, Benjamin Cardozo) and Dong Shao (Flushing, NY, Patchogue-Medford). Pagan has gone 9-2 this season at No. 1 singles for the Bloodhounds, while Shao has been flawless at No. 2 as he sits at 9-0 this season. Also, Derrick Chung (San Diego, CA, Rancho Buena Vista) has performed well as he is 10-1 overall this season including 1-0 at No. 3, 2-0 at No. 4 and 7-1 at No. 5.

Overall, John Jay has gone a combined 55-19 in singles matches and 25-14 at doubles play. Pagan and Ben Jorgensen (New York, NY, Wooster) have been nearly perfect as a duo this season as they are a combined 10-1 as partners.

Other players to watch for this tournament include Rogelio Gutierrez (Brooklyn, NY, Leon M. Goldstein), Akil James (Ozone Park, NY, Aviation), Kelvin Rodriguez (Bronx, NY, Bronx Law, Government & Justice), Tim Smith (Poughkeepsie, NY, Our Lady of Lourdes), Stephen Walz (Ramsey, NJ, Ramsey) and Stefan Williams (Bronx, NY, Lehman).