May 5, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - Junior Raian Luchici Thursday became the 12th player in Coach Sam Paul's tenure as North Carolina's men's tennis coach to earn an invitation to the NCAA Men's Tennis singles championships. The field of 64 players was announced by the NCAA Tennis Committee.

Luchici, a junior from Timisoara, Romania, received an at-large bid in singles from the NCAA's Mideast Region. A total of sixty-four players were selected for the singles phase of the NCAA Championships which will begin May 25 and run through May 30 at the George P. Mitchel Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

Luchici is ranked 57th nationally in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association national singles rankings, released this past Monday. He plays the No. 1 singles spot on the 34th-ranked Tar Heel team which has earned a spot in the NCAA regional to be played May 13-14 at Boise, Idaho. UNC will meet host Boise State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. UNC as a team will compete in its sixth straight NCAA Tournament and its 13th in the last 14 seasons.

Luchici has an overall singles record this year of 25-13, including an 8-9 mark against nationally-ranked opponents.

Since Sam Paul became an assistant tennis coach at UNC in the fall of 1989, 17 UNC players have been invited to the NCAA singles championships. Five players have now earned inviations in the past four years including Marcio Petrone in 2002, Trustan Meniane and Nick Monroe in 2003, Nick Monroe in 2004 and now Raian Luchici in 2005.

Both David Caldwell (1994-96) and Tripp Phillips (1997-98, 2000) played in the NCAA singles championships three times while mentored by Coach Sam Paul.