Nov. 2, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky men’s tennis seniors Eric Quigley and Alex Musialek are set to begin play in the 2011 United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, beginning Thursday at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
No. 3 Quigley will begin his tournament at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday against No. 18 Jarmere Jenkins of Virginia, while No. 20 Musialek will face No. 63 Damian Hume of Boise State at Noon ET on Thursday. Quigley and Jenkins have never faced each other on the collegiate level, while Musialek and Hume have also never faced.
Quigley received a spot in the exclusive field of 32 singles players after winning the consolation singles title at the 2011 ITA All-American Championships earlier this fall. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., has played extremely well this fall, holding a 16-3 record. For his career, Quigley is 134-42, sitting only 10 wins shy of tying the school record for singles wins in a career. Paul Varga (1982-85) holds the school record in career singles wins with a 144-80 post.
This is Quigley’s third-consecutive year to play in the tournament with the senior holding a 5-3 all-time record at the event. Last year, Quigley fell in the opening round of the main draw to Ohio State’s Blaz Rola, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in singles. After the loss, Quigley won four-consecutive matches against players ranked in the top 33 in the nation to claim the singles consolation title.
This is Musialek’s first career appearance at the tournament. The native of Dax, France, earned the bid into the singles main draw after defeating Quigley in the Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championship match. Musialek went 7-0 in singles action at the regional tournament, improving his fall record to 10-3. The senior has defeated four ranked players this fall, including No. 45 Nick Andrews of California. For his career, Musialek is 88-40 in singles action, ranking him tied for 19th on UK’s career singles wins list.
Kentucky is one of eight schools with more than one player in the men’s singles event. Duke, Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, reigning national champion USC and Virginia all have two players vying for the title.
In all, 25 of the 32 singles players at the event are ranked in the ITA preseason singles rankings, including every top-10 ranked player and 18 players that are ranked in the top 20.
Fans can follow live scores from the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at ITAtennis.com and access real-time updates on the ITA’s Facebook and Twitter pages. There will also be an exclusive live chat throughout the tournament at USTA.com.
As the only tournament on the ITA calendar to showcase elite players from every level of college tennis, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships serves as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia University, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women.
Gaining automatic entry into the tournament are champions from the USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl, and the consolation champions, doubles finalists and singles quarterfinalists from the ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships.
In many cases, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships has served as a springboard to success for players at the US Open, which is also played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. At the 2011 US Open alone, 1992 National Indoor singles champion Lisa Raymond (Florida) won the women’s doubles title, 2006 National Indoor doubles champion John Isner (Georgia) reached the singles quarterfinals, and 2007 National Indoor doubles champions Somdev Devvarman and Treat Conrad Huey (Virginia) reunited to win two rounds in doubles.
