Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Zeki Tukel

Mercy Men's Tennis Aims for NCAA Tournament

DOBBS FERRY, NY - After qualifying for a fourth straight NCAA Division II Tournament and finishing 2007 ranked No. 31 in the nation, the Mercy College men's tennis team is hungry for more. Head coach Barbaros Ozdogan has his team ready for competition and anything less than a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth would be a disappointment to the Mavericks.

"Qualifying for the national tournament had a great impact on our program. Our players realized that anything can happen if you believe and if you work hard," Ozdogan said. "This year nothing will satisfy the team other than qualifying for the NCAA tournament."

The Mavericks are currently ranked No. 45 in the country and have endured a very difficult schedule. Mercy has already played four of the top 15 programs in the country this season and could face one of them, Concordia, again in the East Coast Conference (ECC) Tournament.

"Concordia has a great team. Queens, Adelphi, and Dowling added new players and all three teams are very competitive this year," Ozdogan said. "The East Coast Conference is the toughest conference in the region. The ECC had two teams at the national tournament last year. I am very glad that there are other colleges that are investing their resources to build great tennis programs."

Mercy has added some talented new faces and one familiar face to its roster. Junior Carl Johnson (St. John, Antigua) who was a member of the team in 2005-06 has rejoined the squad. Freshman Mehdi Rhazali (Rabat, Morocco) is expected to make a huge impact right away. Sophomore Christian Cheuque (Vina Del Mar, Chile) didn't play collegiate tennis last year, but has a ton of potential and should help the Mavericks.

"Our former captain Carl Johnson came back. He is very experienced and will add a lot of value to our already experienced team," Ozdogan said. "Freshman Mehdi Rhazali from Morocco has a great game that fits our system. I am expecting him to be the rookie of the year. Christian Cheuque joined our team as well. He is very enthusiastic about college tennis and is willing to improve his game."

Yusufcan Koksal

 Returning from last year's team is senior Zeki Tukel (Istanbul, Turkey), and juniors Timon Prosper (Mardigras, St. Georges) and Yusufcan Koksal (Ankara, Turkey). All three have had productive off seasons and will be expected to perform at a very high level.

"Timon Prosper worked really hard during the off season and we will see the results of his hard work during the season. Yusufcan and Zeki added a lot to their strength and conditioning," the head coach said.

Ozdogan has put Mercy tennis on the map through strong recruitment and solid coaching.

"Top teams in the nation know about us and they would like to schedule matches with us," Ozdogan said. "This year we have a very strong schedule with top programs. This schedule is a milestone for the Mercy College tennis program as well."