Jan. 23, 2013
ITA Kick-Off Weekend (Lexington)
No. 17 Texas, No. 40 South Carolina, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 47 Michigan State
Friday, Jan. 25 - Saturday, Jan. 26
Lexington, Ky.
Tournament Central | Live scoring
No. 17 Texas men's tennis (3-0) begins play in the fifth annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lexington, Ky., on Friday against No. 40 South Carolina. Across the nation, 60 schools will be competing for the 15 vacant spots at the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship in Seattle (Feb. 15-17).
Texas is the No. 2 seed in the group of four in Lexington with No. 3 seed South Carolina, No. 4 seed Michigan State and host No. 1 seed Kentucky. The winners of Friday's matches will compete for a berth at national indoors on Saturday.
Coach Michael Center quote: It's going to be a very challenging week with four good teams. At this point we are still learning about ourselves. We are talking a lot about being consistent physically and emotionally - showing that we have the endurance to be strong during the course of the season.
Last time out
Texas notched two top-25 wins against No. 25 Washington and No. 17 Tulsa last weekend in Tulsa, Okla., to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Horns move up in national rankings
The Longhorns defeated two nationally ranked teams last week to move up six spots in the ITA Rankings, from No. 23 to No. 17. Singles and doubles rankings will not be updated until Feb. 12. UT has three ranked singles players and three ranked doubles teams in the most recent individual poll (Jan. 3).
Good starts Texas has started the season 4-0 or better in each of the last five seasons - 2012 (4-0), 2011 (8-0), 2010 (6-0), 2009 (6-0), 2008 (7-0).
Hess-Olesen back in action
Sophomore Soren Hess-Olesen, UT's highest-ranked singles player (No. 31), returned to action after missing the first two events of the spring season due to injury. Hess-Olesen lost his first match of the dual season in three sets against Washington's Kyle McMorrow and defeated No. 34 Japie De Klerk of Tulsa in straight sets.
Follow on social media
Follow Texas men's tennis (@TexasMTN) and the ITA (@ITAtennis) on Twitter for updates and news from the weekend's events. Use the hashtag #ITAKickOff for all tweets in regards to the event.
In the ITA Rankings (Jan. 22)
No. 17 Texas
S - 98. Nick Naumann
S - 43. Daniel Whitehead
D - 13. Chris Camillone / David Holiner
D - 40. Sudanwa Sitaram / Daniel Whitehead
D - 41. Alex Hilliard / Andrew Korinek
No. 7 Kentucky
S - 9. Tom Jomby
S - 94. Anthony Rossi
S - 97. Juan Pablo Murra
D - 35. Tom Jomby / Kevin Lai
No. 40 South Carolina
No. 47 Michigan State
