COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech tennis team will open the 2012 fall tournament schdule this weekend at one of the nation's most impressive faciliites as the Golden Eagles compete in the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, Friday through Sunday, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus.

Coach Kenny Doyle will take four players to the event, which is being held at Georgia for the 45th time. A challenging field of players from 24 colleges and universities will compete.

The oldest fall college tennis tournament in the nation, the event was originated by former Georgia men’s tennis coach Dan Magill in 1968 and marks the opening of the 2012-13 season for the Golden Eagle squad which captured the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship last year with an 8-0 conference record.

Syrym Abdukhalikov, the only senior on the Tech roster, will lead the Golden Eagles into Athens. He was a first-team all-OVC selection last spring. Joining him on the courts this weekend will be junior Vasily Eremeev and sophomores Alejandro Augusto and Ezequiel Gils.

Abdukhalikov has drawn a tough opening assignment, facing top-seeded Bob van Overbeek of Florida, Friday at 9 a.m. CDT the DivisioN I single bracket. Augusto has a first-round bye, and will advance to face Ricardo Pabon of East Tennessee at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Division II singles bracket.

In doubles play, Abdukhalikov and Augusto are paired agains van Overeek and Billy Feldhofer, the No. 2 seed in the Division I bracket. In the Division II doubles draw, Vasily Eremeev and Ezequiel Gils will meet Grayson Mills and Rafael Berghaus of Presbyterian.

The tournament will features as many as three singles divisions and two doubles divisions and a champion to be named in each. There will also be at least two rounds of singles consolation matches.

In addition to Tennessee Tech, the 2012 tournament will feature participants from Armstrong Atlantic, The Citadel, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Furman, Georgia, Georgia College, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Liberty, Lipscomb, Mercer, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, North Florida, Presbyterian, UT Chattanooga, Vanderbilt, and Virginia Tech.

Draws and a schedule of play will be released later this week, and results will be posted throughout the event to Georgiadogs.com. A post-tournament recap will be available on TTUsports.com.