Men's Tennis Opens Fall Season in Georgia
Sept. 23, 2010
CORAL GABLES, FLA. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team opens its fall schedule this weekend at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships hosted by the University of Georgia from Fri., Sept. 24, through Mon., Sept. 27, in Athens.
The Hurricanes, who finished the 2009-10 season ranked No. 43 in the nation with an even 11-11 record, are part of a 34-team field that includes four programs that finished among the nation’s top 25 one year ago. It will also serve as an early preview of several programs Miami is slated to face in spring dual-match play, including UCF, USF and ACC opponent Georgia Tech.
Under the guidance of seventh-year head coach Mario Rincon, the Hurricanes look to several key veterans – including senior Christian Blöcker, ranked No. 72 in singles play in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, and All-American senior Carl Sundberg, who is ranked No. 96 in the singles poll – for leadership. In addition, this weekend’s tournament will mark the debut of Miami’s vaunted 2010 recruiting class that was ranked No. 8 in the nation by TennisRecruiting.net.
The players are divided into three singles divisions and two doubles divisions, with Miami players competing in the top-two divisions of singles and the top division of doubles. The first round of Division I singles (64 total players) and the first two rounds of Division II singles (128 players) and Division I doubles (64 duos) competition will take place at Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Friday.
Blöcker, who finished last season with a 17-13 singles mark with wins in four of his last five matches, is seeded sixth in this weekend’s tournament. He is among five Hurricanes competiting in the tournament’s Division I singles, opening play for Miami at 7:45 a.m. versus Juan Ramirez of East Tennessee State.
Senior transfer Eduardo Pavia, the 2010 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, makes his UM debut versus Elon’s Philip Nemec at 7:45 a.m. as well.
Keith Crowley, who closed last season winning four of his final six matches, opens his senior campaign at 9 a.m. versus Vanderbilt’s 20th-ranked Ryan Lipman. Fellow senior Waylon Chin came on strong at the end of last season and carries a six-match win streak into his 10 a.m. match on Friday against Alexander Kostanov of South Carolina. Sundberg will face Winthrop’s Sergey Belov at 10:30 a.m. in first round action.
Three Hurricanes will compete in Division II singles, as freshman Omar Aly makes his collegiate debut versus Middle Tennessee’s Shaun Waters at 7:45 a.m. Fellow freshman Gabriel Flores has a first-round bye and will face Elon’s Cody Srauffer-MacDowell at 2:30 p.m. Junior Santiago Nieto, who also has a first-round bye, takes on John Taylor of Memphis at 4:30 p.m. in his first competition of the fall.
In a very full day of tennis, four UM doubles tandems will be squaring off on Friday as well. All four duos have earned first-round byes, led by the Miami duo of Blöcker and Crowley who are seeded third in the tournament. The rookie tandem of Flores and Aly kick off doubles play for UM at 6:30 p.m., followed by three duos at 7 p.m.: Blöcker and Crowley; Sundberg and Nieto; and Pavia and Chin.
Competition at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships will continue at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
