Kentucky seniors Nate Emge and Alex Hume begin play Monday at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The tournament gives the two Wildcats a chance to compete for the first national singles and doubles titles of 2005-06 collegiate tennis season.

The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships will begin with a qualifying tournament Oct. 3-5, which will consist of 128 singles players and 64 doubles teams. The qualifying tournament will feed into the main draw competition which is scheduled to begin Oct. 6.

Both Hume and Emge look to be prepared for this tournament after strong showings in their first two fall tournaments.

The 68th-ranked Hume won the Flight A1 consolation bracket at Middle Tennessee fall Invitational to begin the season and followed that performance up by defeating three top-100 players to reach the semifinals of the Virginia Fall Invitational.

Emge, the 94th-ranked in the nation, captured two victories at the MTSU Fall Invitational and advanced to the quarterfinals in Charlottesville, Va.

?The All-American Championships is the first collegiate Grand Slam of the year and we are excited to have our two top-100 players participating,? head coach Dennis Emery said. ?I know Alex and Nate are excited to be playing in this prominent tournament and look forward to competing this week.?

This year?s event will be played at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.