Feb. 4, 2002
– No. 23 Kentucky will play host to one of the best men’s amateur tennis tournaments as the 28th USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Tennis Championships come to Louisville, Ky., on Thursday, Feb. 7 to Sunday, Feb. 10.
Sixteen of the nation’s top collegiate tennis teams will battle for the title over four days of competition at the Louisville Tennis Center, which has served as the tournament host 16 of the last 18 years. Each team is guaranteed three matches in the tournament and must pass through a guantlet of top-rated teams to earn the title in the first major team tournament of the 2001-02 season.
“The National Indoors is one of the most exciting events of the year,” Kentucky Coach Dennis Emery said. “It is truly the second-best amateur tournament in the world and is a great opportunity to see the best players in the world play in a team environment.”
Thirteen of the participating teams are ranked among the top 25, including last year’s tournament champion, No. 3 UCLA. Stanford, the 2000 Indoor champion, will look to regain the title as the Cardinals have battled back and forth with the Bruins over the last 12 years. Stanford has been victorious seven of those years with UCLA taking the title the other five.Top-ranked and defending NCAA Champion, Georgia will try to win its first National Indoor title this year but will be challenged by the talents of other top teams such as No. 4 Tennessee and No. 5 Mississippi. Illinois, Pepperdine, Southern Methodist, Duke and Notre Dame round out the teams ranked in the top 10.
There also are 38 ranked individual players, including top-ranked K.J. Heppenstall of Stanford and Kentucky freshman Jesse Witten, who is ranked 10th. UCLA’s doubles team of Marcin Matkowski and Jean-Julian Rojer are ranked No. 1, while San Diego State’s Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo (No. 2) and Stanford’s Scott Lipsky and David Martin (No. 3) bring the top three nationally ranked teams to Louisville.
“Georgia is definitely the favorite for the tournament with defending NCAA singles and doubles champion Matt Boeker, but they will be hard-pressed to beat defending champion UCLA, who has all six players ranked in the top 100 and the No. 1 doubles team in the country,” Emery said. “With teams like this in the event, anything is possible for an outcome.”Out of the last 27 years of the tournament, Stanford leads with 12 titles followed by UCLA (6), California, Pepperdine, Southern California (2) and SMU with one. Kentucky has had success at this event in its 13 appearances, advancing to the final four on three occasions.
Thursday’s first round matches and times are as follows:
Georgia vs. Brown9 a.m.Pepperdine vs. Notre Dame9 a.m.Mississippi vs. Indiana State12:30 p.m.Illinois vs. California 12:30 p.m.Southern California vs. SMU4 p.m.Kentucky vs. UCLA 4 p.m.Tennessee vs. Duke 7:30 p.m.San Diego State vs. Stanford7:30 p.m.
