Sept. 23, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Four members from the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team, including No. 8 Eric Quigley and No. 32 Alex Musialek, will head west to play in the Land Rover Napa Valley Tennis Classic at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, Calif., Friday-Sunday, Sept. 24-26.
Head coach Dennis Emery and associate head coach Cedric Kauffmann will send juniors Quigley and Musialek, along with sophomore Anthony Rossi and freshman Maks Gold. Quigley, ranked No. 8 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason singles rankings, will play in group one, while Musialek will play in group six, Rossi in group three and Gold in group five.
“I am really looking forward to playing in the Land Rover Napa Valley Tennis Classic,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “The play of our guys last season and this summer has really presented a lot of opportunities for us to show what Kentucky tennis is all about.
For some of our top guys in Quigley, Musialek and Rossi to get a chance to play against the tough competition that is out here is going to be challenging, but a learning experience. We also have one our freshman here in Maks Gold, who is going to get some invaluable experience.”
Quigley and Rossi will start the tournament off Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET time, followed by Musialek, who will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The three-day, round-robin event features four players from six NCAA Division I schools, including California-Berkeley, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Southern California. This is the first time that UK has been invited to play in the event, which annually features the best teams in the country.
Each school will send four players to compete in the 32-man field, which will be split into eight pools featuring three collegians and a junior. Following three matches in pool play, the eight pool winners will compete in a single-elimination, 10-point tiebreak tournament. The winner of the tournament will receive an Untied States Tennis Association-sponsored wild card into a USTA Pro Circuit event that is yet to be determined.
The event, which was founded 10 years ago by Cal coach Peter Wright and Meadowood tennis director Doug King, will feature junior players for the first time after being held exclusively for collegians the first nine years. The juniors were selected by USTA Player Development based on ATP rankings (if applicable), national rankings and results, and a selection of younger players for developmental purposes.
This will be the 10th consecutive year the event has been held at Meadowood and the third year Land Rover has served as the title sponsor.
A full list of schools and participants is below.
California
No. 123 Nick Andrews (Jr., Folsom, Calif.)
Carlos Cueto (Soph., Spain)
No. 122 Christoffer Konigsfeldt (Soph., Denmark)
No. 17 Pedro Zerbini (Sr., Brazil)
Florida
No. 111 Sekou Bangoura (Soph., Bradenton, Fla.)
No. 9 Alexandre Lacroix (Sr., France)
Nassim Slilam (Jr., France)
No. 105 Bob van Overbeek (Soph., Boca Raton, Fla.)
Illinois
Johnny Hamui (Sr., Wesley Chapel, Fla.)
Stephen Hoh (Soph., Australia)
No. 26 Dennis Nevolo (Jr., Gurnee, Ill.)
No. 62 Abe Souza (Sr., St. Louis)
Kentucky
Maks Gold (Fr., Louisville, Ky.)
Anthony Rossi (Soph., France)
No. 32 Alex Musialek (Jr., France)
No. 8 Eric Quigley (Jr., Pewee Valley, Ky.)
USC
No. 42 Daniel Nguyen (Jr., Oxnard, Calif.)
No. 65 Jaak Poldma (Sr., Estonia)
Raymond Sarmiento (Fr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.)
No. 102 JT Sundling (Soph., Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
Texas
Jean Andersen (Jr., South Africa)
No. 18 Ed Corrie (Sr., England)
David Holiner (RS Fr., Dallas)
Vasko Mladenov (Soph., Bulgaria)
