By Bobby Knight. Pictured Romain Bogaerts.
Class is back in session for the fall and after a long summer the rackets will get dusted off this weekend as many schools have their players participating in several fall tournaments that are taking place throughout the country. This will be the 1st collegiate action for the incoming freshmen so this will give us an early idea of who the strong players will be in the spring. Below is a listing of who is hosting a tournament along with a list of schools sending players.
Couple of players to keep an eye on:
Romain Bogaerts, preseason #5 in the ITA rankings, makes his debut as a member of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the Duke Fab 4 Invitational. After playing at #1 singles last season as a freshmen at Mississippi State, Bogaerts is expected to play at #1 this year for the Deacs.
Georgia’s Nick Wood returns to the court in Athens at the Southern Intercollegiates for the 1st time since last February when his freshmen season came to an end after just 3 weeks due to an ankle injury. A healthy Wood could potentially play as high as 3 this year for Georgia.
Texas’s Adrien Berkowicz makes his debut with the Horns at the Racquet Club Invitational after being the #1 JUCO player a year ago at Tyler Junior College. I’d be surprised if Berkowicz wasn’t playing in the top half of the lineup in the coming season.
Southern Intercollegiate Championships (Athens, GA):
The University of Georgia will host the 46th annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships Friday through Monday. The oldest fall college tennis tournament in the South has been played each year since 1968. The 2013 edition will feature 170 participants from 28 different schools.
Schools represented in the 2013 Southern Intercollegiate Championships include Georgia, Alabama, Armstrong Atlantic, Barry University, Charlotte, Clemson, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Furman, Georgia Tech, Georgia Gwinnett College, Georgia Southern, Kentucky, Lander, Liberty, Mercer, Murray State, Portland, South Florida, Stetson, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, UAB, UCF, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Winthrop.
The top 8 seeds in the ‘A’ singles draw are Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman, Georgia’s Ben Wagland, Georgia’s Nathan Pasha, Vanderbilt’s Gonzales Austin, Clemson’s Hunter Harrington, Georgia’s Hernus Pieters, Alabama’s Becker O’Shaughnessey, and Georgia’s Austin Smith.
Play is scheduled to begin Friday at 8 a.m. The singles/doubles draws are listed
here along with Friday’s
Order of Play. Updated scores will be available at the following
link.
Duke Fab 4 Invitational (Cary, NC):
Duke University hosts the Duke Fab 4 which features three singles and doubles draws, with matches beginning the morning of Friday, Sept. 13 and continuing through Sunday, Sept. 15 in Cary. Schools scheduled to send representatives are Duke, Elon, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Radford, South Florida, VCU, Wake Forest and William & Mary.
Seeded players in the Black Singles Draw are Duke’s Fred Saba (ITA #26), Louisville’s Sebastien Stiefelmeyer (#47), North Carolina’s Nelson Vick (#92)
, and VCU’s Alejandro Argente.
Seeded players in the Blue Singles Draw are Wake Forest’s Romain Bogaerts (ITA #5), Duke’s Raphael Hemmeler (#49), NC State’s Austin Powell (#96), and Louisville’s Albert Wagner.
Seeded players in the White Singles Draw are Duke’s Michael Redlicki (ITA #22)
, Elon’s Cameron Silverman (#34)
, NC State’s Nick Horton (ITA Fr. #6) 4. South Florida’s Sasha Gozun (ITA Fr. t-#8).
Play is scheduled to begin Friday at 10 a.m. The singles/doubles draws are listed
here. Updated scores will be available at the following
link.
Olympia Fields Country Club Fighting Illini Invitational (Olympia Fields (Chicago), IL):
The University of Illinois will host the three-day event starting at 9 a.m. CT Friday. The clay courts at Olympia Fields and will host individuals from Illinois, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Memphis, Virginia and Texas. Some of the top players participating include Kentucky’s Tom Jomby (ITA #9), Illinois’s Jared Hiltzik (#17), Notre Dame’s Greg Andrews (#31), and Virginia’s Ryan Shane (#46). Daily results will be posted at the Illinois
site.
Illinois will be represented by sophomores Jared Hiltzik, Alex Jesse, Brian Page and Julian Childers along with juniors Ross Guignon, Tim Kopinski, Farris Gosea and Vanderbilt transfer Blaze Bazarnik. Memphis will be sending seniors David O’Hare, David O’Leary, Johnny Grimal, and freshmen Jarryd Woog. Virginia will be represented by senior Justin Shane, sophomores Jonathan Cornish and Alex Scheinman, and freshmen Jordan Daigle. Texas will be sending seniors David Holiner and Sudanwa Sitaram along with juniors Lloyd Glasspool and Jacoby Lewis.
Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational (Midland, Texas)
For more information about this tournament including updated scoring check out the
host site.
The singles Draw is shown
here and the top 8 seeds are Texas’s Soren Hess-Olesen, Boise State’s Andy Bettles, Oklahoma State’s Sebastian Sachs, Texas Tech’s Felipe Soares, Texas’s Adrien Berkowicz, New Mexico’s Mads Hegelund, Texas’s Nick Naumann, and Rice’s Gustavo Gonzalez.
