Sept. 25, 2013

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State men's tennis team has four players making their garnet and gold debuts while hosting the Bedford Cup at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center Thursday through Sunday. Play begins each day at 9 a.m. as teams from around Florida compete to be the best in the state.

"We're looking forward to hosting the Bedford Cup for the first time," said head coachDwayne Hultquist. "We have nine of the Florida schools coming to play here so it should be a competitive draw. I look forward to seeing our younger guys play for the first time. I'd love to see someone make a big run in the tournament and come through to win it."

Joining Florida State is eight other schools including Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Miami, North Florida and Stetson.

Freshman Grayson Goldin of Bradenton, Fla., takes on Florida Gulf Coast's Adrian Reid at 9 a.m. while Jose Gracia, a freshman from Delray Beach, Fla., competes against Jalen Evans of FAMU. At 10 a.m., Naples, Fla., native freshman Jack Haffey faces Bethune-Cookman's Joao Almeida. Freshman Jake Albo also makes his debut at 10 a.m. The Plantation, Fla., native takes on Cahit Kapukiran of Stetson.

Sophomore João Gauer of Panara, Brazil faces off at 11:00 a.m. against Gilbert Rotich of Bethune-Cookman. Receiving first round byes, junior Cristian Gonzalez Mendez of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, plays his first match at 1:00 p.m. while Michael Rinaldi, a sophomore from Palm City, Fla., plays his first match at 3:00 p.m.

The Seminoles have three doubles teams competing this weekend but all three pairs received byes and will play their first doubles matches on Friday.

The Tennis Channel will broadcast highlights from the tournament. Dates and times have not been released at this time.

Schedule of events:
Thursday - Singles Round of 64; Singles Round of 32; Doubles Round of 32
Friday - Singles Round of 16; Doubles Round of 16; Doubles Quarterfinals; Singles Consolation Matches
Saturday - Singles Quarterfinals; Singles Semifinals; Doubles Semifinals
Sunday - Singles Finals; Doubles Finals

Check back to Seminoles.com for all your information on the men's tennis team and follow the team at twitter.com/fsu_mtennis.