Oct. 23, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M will host the 2008 Wilson/ITA South Central Region Championships on Oct. 25-28 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
One of the strongest men's fall regionals in the country, the four-day tournament boasts 17 preseason nationally-ranked singles players and nine doubles teams. First serve on Saturday, Oct. 25, and Sunday, Oct. 26, is slated for 8 a.m., while the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Monday, Oct. 27, and the finals on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
A&M, Baylor, Lamar, Louisiana-Lafayette, Prairie View A&M, Rice, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UT Arlington and UTSA are among the 13 regional schools who have participants competing in the tournament.
"This weekend's championship should be very challenging, because it is such a strong region," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "It will present tough competition from six regional schools that finished among the top 25 in the nation last season."
A&M senior All-American and No. 17-ranked Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) is seeded third in the singles draw which also includes top-seeded Dimitar Kutrovsky of Texas, second-seeded Bruno Rosa of Rice and third-seeded Ed Corrie of Texas. Kutrovsky is No. 7 in the nation followed by Rosa (No. 14) and Corrie (No. 30).
On the doubles side of the bracket, the top-seeded and fourth-ranked combination of Pollock and sophomore All-American Wil Spencer (Ponce de Leon, Fla.) and Chris Chirico (Philadephia, Pa.) at No. 45 nationally.
"Our guys will have a lot to play for this weekend with the winner of singles and doubles qualifying for the ITA National Indoors next month. That alone is good motivation for our players to do well. They have been working on their individual needs over the last two weeks, while Austin and Conor played in the Mansfield Futures tournament to help prepare them for regional competition."
The Aggies look forward to fall tournament play at their home venue for the first time since 2006. Last year, Pollock qualified for the ITA National Indoors after reaching the singles finals at the ITA Regionals held in Austin, Texas. He will make a return trip to the prestigious fall tournament, having qualified with a quarterfinal appearance in the main draw of the D'Novo ITA All-American Championships on Oct. 3-12 in Tulsa, Okla.
"Our players are very excited to play a tournament at home," Denton said. "The last couple of years, we have played on the road in the fall. They feel really good about playing on our home court, especially in front of the 12th Man. This will be a great preview for our fans, which will give them the opportunity to look forward to us hosting the 2009 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships in the spring."
Admission is free and open to the public. The top two finalists in singles and the winner of doubles will move on to the prestigious ITA National Indoors on Nov. 6-9 on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. Seventeen Wilson/ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men and women are taking place over the last two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country.
Complete results can be found on www.AggieAthletics.com or at: www.usta.com or www.itatennis.com