University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNIS VOLS CARRY MOMENTUM INTO ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
September 29, 2006 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 29, 2006
The Tennessee men's tennis team looks to continue its strong start to the fall season when it travels to Tulsa, Okla., this weekend for the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships, hosted by the University of Tulsa at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center Sept. 30-Oct. 8.
"As a team, we are extremely excited about the All-American Championships," head coach Chris Mahony said. "We have had a great start to the season with three very successful tournaments in Athens, Murfreesboro, and Chattanooga.
"However, Tulsa is a step up in the level of competition we will face. This event basically brings the top 150-200 players in collegiate tennis all to the same place. There is no doubt this tournament will be very challenging, but Coach Woodruff and I believe in our guys and we are confident that they are ready."
The All-American Tennis Championships include five days of qualifying events that precede the Oct. 5-8 main draw. A 128-player prequalifying tournament takes place Sept. 30-Oct. 1. This feeds into the 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments Oct. 2-5, which narrow the field into 64-player, 32-doubles team main draws.
Senior Kiril Tcherveniachki, sophomore Derek Stephens and freshman Chris Racz all begin play Saturday in prequalifying. Each player has to win three matches to advance to the qualifying portion.
Bobby Cameron, Kaden Hensel, Adam Hubble, Ben Rogers and Davey Sandgren begin play Monday, Oct. 2 in the qualifying portion.
Hubble and Rogers are the No. 10 seed in the doubles tournament. Juniors Cameron and Hensel team up for the doubles portion as do Racz and Stephens. Sandgren and Tcherveniachki, who won the Flight A2 doubles title at the Middle Tennessee Fall Classic also will compete in doubles.
The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships offer the first national singles and doubles titles of the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November. The third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May.
