By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
ATHENS, Ga. - It's tennis time in Cookeville as the Tennessee Tech tennis team will open the 2013 fall tournament schedule this weekend at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus in the Southern Intercollegiate Championships.
Head coach Kenny Doyle will take four players to the event, which is being held at Georgia, one of the nation's most impressive facilities, for the 45th time. A challenging field of players from 28 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 2013-14 season for the Golden Eagle squad - which captured the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship last year with an 9-0 conference record - for the second straight year.
Representing the Golden Eagles at the Southern Intercollegiates will be returning veterans Vasily Eremeev and Artem Tarasov and newcomers Oleksiy Arovin, Alberto Esteban, and Gagan Jain.
Play will begin Friday, Sept. 13 and run through Monday, Sept. 16. Arovin will start things off for the Golden Eagles, taking on Juan Pablo Boada of Winthrop in an 7 a.m. CDT start. Joining him in the Division I tournament is Eremeev, who is slated to take on the third-seeded Nathan Pasha of Georgia at 1 p.m.
Jain will take the court at 10:30 a.m. against Alabama's Andrew Goodwin in the Division II bracket while Esteban takes on Forrest Edwards of Charlotte at 9 a.m., also in the Division II bracket. Tarasov will compete in the Division III bracket against Vanderbilt's Nathan Vierra at 7:30 a.m.
In doubles play, Arovin and Esteban are paired against Portland's Alex Ferrero and Ratan Gill in a 5 p.m. match in the Doubles Division I. The duo of Eremeev and Tarasov will take on Christian Kerrigan and Rafael Racy of Georgia Southern in a 6:30 p.m. start in the Doubles Division II.
The tournament will feature as many as three singles divisions and two doubles divisions with 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 2013 tournament will feature participants from Alabama, Armstrong Atlantic, Barry University, Charlotte, Clemson, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Furman, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Gwinnett College, Georgia Southern, Kentucky, Lander, Liberty, Mercer, Murray State, Portland, South Florida, Stetson, Tennessee, UAB, UCF, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and Winthrop.
Results will be posted throughout the event to Georgiadogs.com. A post-tournament recap will be available on TTUsports.com.
The Southern Intercollegiate Championships is just one of six fall events for the Golden Eagles who will also head to Chattanooga, Tenn. for the UTC/Baras Fall Classic from Sept. 27-29. Other members of the squad will take part in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. from Sept. 28-Oct. 2.
From Oct. 11-13, Tech will head east to Knoxville to partake in the USTA/ITA Regional Championships and then south from Oct. 18-21 for the Grizzly Open in Lawrenceville, Ga. The Golden Eagles will be at the Elon Fall Invitational in Elon, N.C. from Oct. 25-27 before wrapping up the fall season at the Winthrop Fall Invitational in Rock Hill, S.C. from Nov. 1-3.
