Men's Tennis Battles Eighth-Seeded Florida in NCAA Championships

May 13, 1999

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Universityof Miami men’s tennis team(10-12), ranked No. 50 nationally, travel to Gainesville, FL for afirst-round meeting with Eighth-seeded Florida (17-5) at 11 a.m. onFriday,May 14 in the 1999 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Sub-Regional at LinderStadium at Ring Tennis Complex on the UF campus.

Miami, who finished runner-upto Notre Dame for the BIG EASTChampionship, is making its third consecutive trip to the NCAA regionalsand17th overall since 1977. Last season, then No. 2-seeded UM wasupset by No.3 seed Virginia Tech in the first round.

Freshman Jose Liebermanleads the team with a 21-13 overall singlesrecord. Lieberman is the first Hurricane to surpass the 20-winplateausince Mike Russell and Ivan Rodrigo did so during the 1997 season.Lieberman also has a team leading 13-9 dual match singles record playingprimarily at the No. 4 position where he is 10-2.

Miami and Florida have met55 times in the all-time series with theHurricanes leading 46-8-1. Both teams last met in 1990, a 5-4Miami win inGainesville.

Other than top-seeded Floridaand Miami, the sub-regional will alsopit No. 28 South Florida and No. 45 NC State. Miami has playedboth USF andNC State during the 1999 dual match season at the Neil Schiff TennisCenter,defeating the Wolfpack, 5-2, on Feb. 19 and falling to the Bulls, 6-1,onApril 10.

If Miami advances, it willface the USF/NC State winner at 3 p.m. onSaturday, May 15.