• Roster
• |
• Schedule/Results
• |
• Stats
• |
• News
• |
• Archives

Sept. 30, 2010

WHAT:  Texas resumes 2010 fall tournament play this weekend at the Rice Fall Invitational and the ITA All-American Championship.

WHEN: Rice Fall Invitational – Friday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 3.  ITA All-American Championships – Saturday, Oct. 2 through Sunday, Oct. 10. 

WHERE: Rice Fall Tennis Classic at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, Houston.  ITA All-American Championship at the Michael Case Tennis Center, Tulsa, Okla.

WHO: Texas’ Jean Andersen, Ed Corrie and Vasko Mladenov will compete at the ITA All-American Championship, with Mladenov opening singles play on Saturday.  The ITA All-American Championship is one of three national championship events on the college tennis calendar, along with the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship and the NCAA Championship. 

David Holiner, Ben Chen, Alex Hilliard, Daniel Whitehead, Chris Camillone and Sudanwa Sitaram will join players from Rice, LSU, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UT-Arlington at the Rice Fall Classic.   

PRE-TOURNAMENT COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On the Rice Fall Invitational
“We’ll have a lot of young guys at that tournament and they will play a lot of matches.  We’ve been working hard, and physically we’re pretty fit, but we’re making too many mistakes.  This will give us a chance to watch them play and see what we need to continue to work on in their games.” 

On the ITA All-American Championship
“In the fall, my expectations are that we be good competitors, fight hard, play with energy and keep trying to improve our games.  Ed Corrie, Vasko Mladenov and Jean Andersen all played at the Napa Valley event last weekend and will play at the All-American.  Ed and Jean won their respective flights and Vasko went 1-2.  I think they feel like they have work to do on their games and they will get tested against some of the best players in the country.” 

On Ed Corrie
“I feel good about how hard he’s working and playing.   He’s  a top-10 caliber player.  But at this point the rankings don’t mean anything.  Anyone can go up there and lose in the first round.  It’s about who is playing the best and how they perform under pressure in the big points.”

On Jean Andersen and Vasko Mladenov 
“We’ll count on them this year.  Both played key roles last year, with Jean at No. 4 singles and Vasko at No. 6 singles.  Those guys will need to step forward this year.  The more tests they can get against the best competition, the better off for us.  I’m excited for all of those guys.  These tournaments are great opportunities.”  

THE 2010-11 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.

Senior Ed Corrie ranks No. 18 in the ITA preseason men’s singles rankings after compiling a 30-12 overall singles record and earning  All-Big 12 honors last season.  Corrie also ranks 24th alongside junior Jean Andersen in the ITA preseason men’s doubles rankings. 

Senior Kellen Damico ranks 77th in the ITA preseason men’s singles rankings after turning in a 20-12 overall singles record a year ago.  He ranks 58th alongside sophomore Chris Camillone in the ITA preseason men’s doubles rankings. 

Andersen joined the Horns last spring and produced a 19-6 overall singles record, including a 15-5 record at No. 4 singles in dual-match play.  Sophomore Vasko Mladenov, the 2010 ITA Texas Region Rookie Player of the Year, compiled a 26-9 overall singles record and a 16-4 mark in dual matches last season. 

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