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Jan. 20, 2011

WHAT:  No. 5 Texas (2-0) resumes dual-match play this weekend when it takes on No. 25 Michigan (1-0). 

WHEN/WHERE:  Sat. Jan. 22 – 5 p.m. Central/Varsity Tennis Center – Ann Arbor, Mich.

LIVE VIDEO/SCORING:  http://www.mgoblue.com/livestats/m-tennis/index-m.html

LAST TIME OUT:  Texas opened the 2011 dual-match season last weekend with a neutral-site match against California (Tulsa, Okla.) and a road match against Tulsa.  The Longhorns posted a 5-2 win over the 19th-ranked Golden Bears and topped Tulsa by a 6-1 count.     

LAST MEETING vs. MICHIGAN:  Texas defeated Michigan by a 6-1 count on March 13, 2010 in Austin.  The Horns also met Michigan two weeks ago at the Key Biscayne Invitational, an individual singles-and-doubles event, where they posted an 8-0 singles mark and a 4-0 doubles mark against the Wolverines.  

PRE-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On Michigan
“They have a young team.  Michigan will have three freshmen playing, and Michigan is very strong at the top of its lineup, with Evan King and Jason Jung, a couple of All-America-caliber players.  This is a team that will get better and better as the year goes on.  Obviously, playing them in Key Biscayne will be much different than competing with them indoors at their home courts.”

On the benefits of starting the season with road matches
“We wanted to get a lot of work in before school started, and I think we accomplished that.  We want to play good teams.  We want to see where we’re at and what we need to work on.  Playing teams like California and Tulsa in tough environments showed us what we needed to do to continue to improve.  We’ll learn a little more about the team this week when we play Michigan.” 

ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
Singles
35. Jason Jung (Michigan)
78. Vasko Mladenov (Texas)
100. Ben Chen (Texas)
Doubles
5. Ed Corrie/Jean Andersen (Texas)
15. Ben Chen/Daniel Whitehead (Texas)
25. Kellen Damico/David Holiner (Texas)
28. Jason Jung/Evan King (Michigan)

THE 2011 LONGHORNS:  Texas returns four regular singles starters from the 2009-10 squad that won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and reached the round of 16 for a fifth consecutive year at the NCAA Championships.

Texas ranked fifth in the preseason college tennis team poll released Tuesday, Jan. 4 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), and the Longhorns command five additional slots in the preseason singles and doubles rankings. 

Senior Ed Corrie and junior Jean Andersen rank fifth in the ITA preseason doubles rankings after qualifying for the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships last fall.  Sophomores Ben Chen and Daniel Whitehead boast a No. 15 ITA preseason doubles ranking after producing a stellar fall season together.  Senior Kellen Damico and redshirt freshman David Holiner hold a No. 25 ITA doubles ranking.  Damico and the aforementioned Corrie earned doubles All-America honors as freshmen in 2008. 

Sophomore Vasko Mladenov, the 2010 ITA Texas Region Rookie Player of the Year, ranks No. 100 in singles.  Sophomore Ben Chen, a contender to crack the regular singles lineup, ranks 100th nationally in singles. 

UT welcomes the aforementioned Holiner, Purdue transfer Thomas Wilson and freshman Sudanwa Sitaram for the 2010-11 season.