Oct. 21, 2009
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Based on his extraordinary performance at the ITA All-American Championships earlier this month, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) chose UK sophomore Eric Quigley as one of three top American collegians to represent the United States in the fourth annual Master’U BNP Paribas, an international collegiate competition held December 9-14 in Poitiers, France.
The U.S. team will be competing for the second consecutive year against a talented international field that includes teams from Belgium, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Mexico. The teams will compete in a best-of-seven format consisting of two men’s and two women’s singles matches, one men’s and one women’s doubles match, and one mixed doubles match.
The American team was selected through a joint partnership between the USTA and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) using the following criteria: the top American male and female finishers at the 2009 ITA All-American Championships; the top male and female American applicants in the 2009 Men’s and Women’s ITA Preseason Division I Singles Rankings and remaining roster spots were selected by a committee of USTA Player Development and ITA coaches and staff.
Quigley, a sophomore from Pewee Valley, Ky., reached the singles and doubles quarterfinals at the 2009 D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships and is No. 24 in the ITA Preseason Division I doubles rankings. The Wildcat made an impressive quarterfinal run in the tourney by defeating four ranked opponents during a six-match win streak. Quigley’s defeat of top-ranked Oleksandr Nedevyesov of Oklahoma State was the highlight of the tourney in Tulsa. Currently ranked No. 70 in singles, Quigley also defeated No. 9 Sanam Singh of Virginia, a 2009 NCAA Men’s Singles Semifinalist.
“Eric has worked very hard to get better,” said Kentucky head coach Dennis Emery. “His selection is a reflection that other people are recognizing that he has done just that.”
Joining Quigley on the men’s side is Steve Johnson of Southern California and Texas A&M’s Austin Krajicek. Playing on the women’s side will be Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech, Notre Dame’s Kristy Frilling and Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee.
The team will be coached by Michelle Dasso, the head women’s tennis coach at the University of Illinois who also served as coach for the U.S. at the 2008 Master’U BNP Paribas, and Greg Patton, the head coach of the Boise State University men’s tennis team.
The Wildcats are back in action this weekend at the Ohio Valley ITA Regional at Indiana University.
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