Sept. 18, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. - Vanderbilt's men's tennis team will begin its 2008-09 season on Friday when it travels to Georgia to play in the Southern Intercollegiate Championships at the Bulldogs' Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
The tournament, which is divided into three singles divisions and two doubles divisions, is the longest running in college tennis. In total 179 participants from 32 different schools will compete with the finals taking place on Monday.
Vanderbilt is coming off a season where it finished the year ranked No. 26 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last eight years.
The Commodores will open the season by sending eight of its 10 players to the tournament. Leading the group will be junior Vijay Paul, who is ranked No. 80 in the preseason ITA poll. Among the eight players traveling to Georgia will be freshmen Alex DiValerio and Charlie Jones, who will both be making their debuts.
"I am excited to see not only our returners compete this weekend, but particularly our freshmen," Vanderbilt head coach Ian Duvenhage said. "(The freshmen) have looked very good in practice and I look forward to seeing what they can do when it counts."
Each player is guaranteed to play at least two singles matches because of consolation play. However, there will be a maximum of two rounds of consolation play for first-round losers. There is no doubles consolation.
Last season, sophomore Alex Zotov had the Commodores top finish at the tournament, advancing to the finals of the Division III singles bracket.
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Friday
8 a.m.
Div. I, II Round of 128 Singles
Div. I, II, III Round of 64 Singles
3:30 p.m.
Div. I, II Round of 64 Doubles
Div. I, II Round of 32 Doubles
Div. III Round of 64 Singles
Div. III Round of 32 Singles
Saturday
8 a.m.
Div. I, II Round of 16 Doubles
Div. I, II Round of 32 Singles
Div. I, II, III Round of 16 Singles
Div. I, II First Round Consolation
Div. III Round of 32 Consolation
11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Div. III Singles Quarterfinals
Sunday
8 a.m.
Div. I, II, III Singles Second Round & Finals Consolation
Div. I, II Singles Quarterfinals
Div. I, II, III Singles Semifinals
Div. III Singles Finals
Div. I, II Doubles Quarterfinals
Monday
Div. I, II Singles Finals
Div. I, II Doubles Semifinals
Div. I, II Doubles Finals
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