Men's Tennis Set for Southeast Regional Championships

Oct. 19, 2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team is participating in its second tournament of the fall season this weekend at the Southeast Regional Championships hosted by the University of Georgia. The event runs from Friday, Oct. 21, through Monday, Oct. 24 in Athens, Ga.

The Hurricanes are part of a 15-team field that includes six schools that finished ranked among the nation’s Top 50 a season ago. Miami, Georgia Tech, Florida and Georgia all finished last season ranked in the Top 30.

Miami enters the tournament after withdrawing from the State of Florida Tennis Championships due to rain in late September.

The Hurricanes will be led by sophomore Diego Soto who was one of the team’s bright spots in its last outing. In five matches, Soto won his first four of the weekend before losing his singles quarterfinals match.

Gabriel Flores, a sophomore and another team leader, heads to Georgia with only one loss, which came in his first singles match. Flores and Soto will also look to maintain an unblemished record of 2-0 in doubles play.

Georgia, ending the 2010-11 campaign ranked No. 5 nationally, comes in with the only two players ranked in this season’s ITA preseason Top 25. Wil Spencer and Sadio Doumbia are ranked No. 6 and No. 24, respectively.

Other teams at the tournament will be UCF, Florida Atlantic, Florida A&M, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, North Florida, USF and Stetson.

Play will begin with two qualifying rounds on Thursday, Oct. 20, while the main draw will begin Friday.