DETROIT -- The 2012 dual-match schedule for the men's tennis team will kickoff Thursday afternoon at Western Michigan at 3:00 p.m. Detroit will conclude its first week of play with a match Sunday at DePaul in Illinois at 6:00 p.m.
 
This year's roster features seven returners and four newcomers with just two underclassmen. The Titans will have three seniors in David Stabley (Shelby Township, MI/Eisenhower), Nick Tolomei (Rochester, MI/Adams) and newcomer David Streeter (Beverly Hills, MI/Birmingham Groves). Each of the seniors will share the role of co-captain this season.
 
The Titans return Alex Latosinsky (Sarnia, ON/St. Christopher's) who earned team MVP honors last season and was named to the Horizon League's second team. He was also recognized as the Horizon League Men's Tennis Player of the Week on Feb. 1. A core group of juniors of Chris Cheung (Mississauga, ON/Erindale), Larry Brown (Shelby Township, MI/Eisenhower), Pablo Nunez (San Jose, Costa Rica/Educacion Abierta), Cesar Escobar Serrano (Merliot, El Salvador/Education) and last year's midseason transfer Mike Basha (Fort Gratiot, MI/Port Huron Northern), from Western Michigan who will make his Detroit debut this year, all look to help the Titans return to the playoffs after narrowly missing them in 2011 for the first time in three years.
 
Freshmen Jay Joshi (Rochester, MI/Adams) and David Foreman (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Seaholm) are the two lone underclassmen and will also be part of this year's Titan squad under head coach Grant Asher who is in his fourth year at the helm of the Titan men.
 
“I think in the short history of our program, we'll be the deepest we have ever been,” said Asher. “You have those first seeds from when the program started who are now seniors so we have some leadership with Stabley and Tolomei. You have a transfer with Streeter who is a senior so we finally have that leadership at the top that championship teams really need so I feel good with that.”
 
Last year, the Titans opened at Western Michigan falling 7-0 in the match en route to a 6-14 season record in dual matches, including a 1-6 mark in Horizon League play. Four of the team's wins came in a five-match streak from Jan. 28-Feb. 20 with victories coming over Dayton, IUPUI, IPFW and Chicago State in that stretch. The Titans finished in seventh place in the conference.
 
Cheung was recognized as last year's Most Improved on the team after taking home Horizon League Men's Tennis Player of the Week honors on Feb. 22. He earned the award after helping the Titans to three straight team wins after a perfect 6-0 weekend in road wins over IUPUI, IPFW, and Chicago State. He also paired with Serrano to win eight straight doubles matches from Jan. 21 to Mar. 18 that included a 8-7 (8-6) win in the No. 3 position over #49 ranked Michigan State. Nunez led the team with four conference wins and secured the second highest overall win total on the team with 15.
 
“We have a great group of juniors who aren't young and immature anymore but are now starting to really develop their games. I think we are at the point where we're pretty deep with eight pretty good players and we've struggled with that in the past. We have increased our competition amongst ourselves and it is pushing guys to compete for a spot,” said Asher.
 
New to the team will be upperclassmen transfers Basha and Streeter in addition to freshmen Joshi and Foreman.
 
“Both [Basha and Streeter] have had a lot of success in juniors and in high school tennis. Both know how to win, how to act, and how to lead teams through the tunnel if you will and come out on the other end with victories which is something we struggled with as a young team,” said Asher.
 
Basha came to the Titans midway through last season from Western Michigan and was only able to participate in practice due to NCAA transfer requirements. He spent two years at Western Michigan totaling a 20-11 singles record and a 31-23 mark in overall play. He was a three-star prospect out of high school and the No. 4 ranked senior in Michigan by TennisRecruiting.net out of Port Huron Northern High School in 2008. He finished with a 32-6 record his senior year and was named to the Division 1 All-State first team and was a finalist for the prestigious “Mr. Tennis” award given to a top Number One Senior Singles player in Michigan by the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association. Streeter comes from Michigan after earning two varsity letters with that tennis program after being a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He totaled a 100-4 career singles record and was a two-time team captain and a three-time state champion. In addition, he garnered National High School All-America team honors twice and All-State recognition all four years.
 
Four players enter this season in the top ten in career singles victories at Detroit as Serrano has 31, Latosinsky has 30, Cheung has 29 and Tolomei has 26. The leader in that overall category is the Titan's newly named women's tennis coach Pjotrs Necajevs (2009-10) with 55 and behind him is Jim Hafner (1989-92) with 44.
 
Detroit's opening match will also be the opening match for the Broncos.  WMU went undefeated in conference matches last season but graduated four players, including MAC Player of the Year Michael Calderone, from last year's regular season conference championship squad. The Broncos totaled a 15-11 overall mark a year ago and had their season end in the conference semifinals with a 4-3 defeat to Ball State. DePaul's match with Detroit on Saturday will be the second match for the Blue Demons in 2012 after opening the season against the Horizon League's UIC. DePaul finished 18-9 overall last year and fifth in the BIG EAST Tournament.
 
The next action for Detroit following this weekend will be Jan. 20 as the team will play at Illinois for a match set for 3:00 p.m.