Sept. 12, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team will return to the court for the first time since battling Pepperdine in the NCAA Championships this Friday when it travels to Charlottesville, Va., for the UVA Fall Classic. Action will take place from Sept. 14-16.
After finishing 43rd in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Rankings in 2007, second-year head coach Todd Doebler will lead the Nittany Lions into Charlottesville with high hopes.
"So far this fall, the guys have been working really hard, both on and off the court," said Doebler. "Going to UVA this weekend will give us a chance to compete against a lot of good players, and give us a chance to see how we measure up at this early point in the season."
The UVA Fall Classic will feature singles and doubles action from players around the country. In singles action, the tournament will feature nine draws of 16 players. In doubles, there will be four draws of 16 teams. The schedule will feature a pair of singles rounds and one doubles round on Friday. Action on Saturday will include two doubles rounds and one round of singles play. The finals for singles and doubles will take place on Sunday.
Senior Michael James (Clifton, Va.) will lead the Nittany Lions into the fall season coming off a stellar junior season. James finished his junior season with a 27-8 overall record, a 16-6 mark in duals and a 6-4 record in the Big Ten. James, who finished the season ranked 59th in the ITA National Singles Rankings, is ranked a career-high 35th in the first ITA rankings this fall. James, who was a member of the 2007 All-Big Ten Team, garnered a berth into the main draw of the prestigious Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championship in Tulsa, Okla., in October.
Junior Adam Slagter (Austin, Texas) will kick off the 2007 fall season looking to build on a 19-11 record as a sophomore. In doubles, Slagter and James begin the fall season ranked 36th nationally by the ITA. The doubles team also earned a coveted spot in the 32-team main draw of the All-American Tennis Championship in Tulsa.
Penn State returns eight players from its 2007 campaign, including seniors James Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga.), Chris Sherman (Edina, Minn.) and James. Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.) and Slagter are the two juniors on the squad. David Bortner (State College, Pa), Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) return for their second season at Penn State. Also, four talented freshmen joined the Nittany Lions when fall practice kicked off.
Following the trip to Virginia, the Nittany Lions will travel to Flushing Meadows, N.Y., for the 2007 ECAC Championships from Sept. 28-Oct. 1. An invitation to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February will be on the line in New York. The champion of the ECAC Championship receives an automatic berth into the National Team Indoor Championships.