Oct. 4, 2008
TULSA, Okla. – University of Kentucky men’s tennis freshman Patrick Bandy earned his first collegiate win Friday in his first match as a Wildcat at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships Pre-Qualifying Tournament, hosted by the University of Tulsa, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, but it was not easy. Bandy defeated Scott McCormick of Wichita State in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in his first round match.
Bandy will face Alex McCann of Middle Tennessee in the second round Saturday, McCann advanced on a bye.
In other first round action, senior Shane Collins battled Yakov Diskin of Old Dominion. Collins pushed the first set into extra games but Diskin was able to manage a 7-5 first set victory. In the second, Diskin used a couple service breaks to clinch the match at 6-2.
Bandy and four other Wildcats who received byes in the first round are in action during the tournament’s second round Saturday. Should the UK players advance, their third round match up will take play later that same day.
Two Kentucky men are ranked in the pre-qualifying tourney, sophomore Alberto Gonzalez is the No.6 seed and freshman Eric Quigley is seeded at No. 20. Another foe from Wichita State awaits Gonzalez; Shocker Adrian Chermaci won his first round match in straight sets dropping just two games. Meanwhile, Quigley will battle Blaze Schwartz of Central Florida; the Knight was a walk-over winner in his first match.
UK freshman Alex Musialek serves against Geza Bazula of Loyola Marymount in the first match of tournament for both players. Sophomore Will Beck takes on Arizona’s Ravid Hazi in the second round; Hazi was a walk-over winner in the first round.
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.
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.
