Thursday, 10/06/2011

Longhorns head to Tulsa for the first of three national championship events on the college tennis calendar.

 

WHAT:  Texas resumes 2011 fall tournament play at the ITA All-American Championships, one of three national championship events on the college tennis calendar.

 

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 9

 

WHERE:

Michael Case Tennis Center – Tulsa, Okla.

 

PRE-QUALIFYING ROUND SCHEDULE

Saturday, Oct. 1

Singles

Jacoby Lewis (Texas) vs. Beau Blackshear (Texas A&M) or Carlin Murray (Louisiana-Lafayette) – 2 p.m.

David Holiner (Texas) vs. Matija Palinic (DePaul) or Danilo Casanova (Hawaii) – 4 p.m.

Sudanwa Sitaram (Texas) vs. Richard Bucalem (San Francisco) or Stanislas Rodier (Southern Illinois) – 2 p.m.

Alex Hilliard (Texas) vs. Philippe Oudshoorn (Virginia) or George Chanturia (DePaul) – 3:30 p.m.

Chris Camillone (Texas) vs. Mike Lampa (St. John’s) -  11:30 a.m.

 

Texas’ Daniel Whitehead, Ben Chen and Soren Hess-Olesen are slated to compete in the qualifying round singles draw (begins Oct. 3).  Holiner and Hess-Olesen will compete together in the qualifying round doubles draw (begins Oct. 3), as will Chen and Whitehead.

 

PRE-TOURNAMENT COMMENTS

Texas head coach Michael Center

“We have the chance to take all of our guys to Tulsa and get some experience at a big-time event. It's another opportunity to challenge ourselves. We've been training well and are looking for some great results.”

 

Preseason ITA Singles Rankings

59. Daniel Whitehead

113. Ben Chen

Preseason ITA Doubles Rankings

55. David Holiner/Soren Hess-Olesen

 

LAST TIME OUT:  Junior Daniel Whitehead won the singles title at the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland on Sept. 18.  

 

THE 2011-12 LONGHORNS:  Texas returns six letterwinners from the 2010-11 squad that reached the round of 32 at the NCAA Championships and the semifinals of the Big 12 Championships.

 

Junior Daniel Whitehead ranks 59th in the ITA preseason rankings after posting a 27-9 overall singles record last season.  Junior Ben Chen opens the season ranked No. 113 in the ITA singles rankings after totaling a 16-11 singles mark a season ago.

 

Sophomore David Holiner posted a 4-3 dual-match singles record last season, and classmate Sudanwa Sitaram registered a 16-9 overall record to go along with an 8-6 dual-match singles record.  UT also returns a pair of juniors in Chris Camillone and Alex Hilliard.