Oct. 2, 2008
TULSA, Okla. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team continues its fall schedule at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships, hosted by the University of Tulsa, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, beginning Friday.
The Championships tourney lasts 10 days consisting of three inter-linked singles draws and two dependent doubles draws. The pre-qualifying singles tournament begins Friday with as many as 256 players, including six Wildcats. Athletes must advance three rounds to make one of the 16 slots that move on to the subsequent qualifying draw of 128. The final 16 of the singles qualifying draw advance to play in the concluding 64-man main draw.
For five of the six UK players in the three-day pre-qualifier, the Championships’ draw provides the first action of the year. Only freshman, Alex Musialek played earlier this fall at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships. Musialek is one of four Wildcats with opening-round byes that begin tournament competition on Saturday.
Two Kentucky men open their seasons on Friday. Freshman Patrick Bandy kicks off his collegiate career with a match against Scott McCormick of Wichita State at 10 a.m. ET. Later in the day, senior Shane Collins begins his 2008 ledger across the net from Yakov Diskin of Old Dominion at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Next week, two more Wildcats will join the competition after the pre-qualifying round.
UK senior Bruno Agostinelli began the fall season in the 19th slot of the ITA pre-season top-125 singles rankings before becoming a two-time finalist in singles and doubles at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships last month. Agostinelli will participate in next week’s main draw based on his national ranking.
Agostinelli and doubles partner, sophomore Brad Cox, opened the tournament season ranked 15th in the ITA pre-season top 50 doubles rankings. The pair kicked off 2008 in fine fashion winning the Southern Intercollegiate Doubles Championship. The duo will be seeded in the doubles main draw of 32 teams next week based on their national ranking.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for recaps of all Wildcat performances.
