Alabama Set to Host Crimson Tide Fall Championships
10/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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Beginning Friday, October 29 at 9 a.m. the University of Alabama men's tennis team will host the Crimson Tide Fall Championships at the newly constructed Alabama Tennis Stadium.
Eighteen teams from across the nation will compete in the three-day tournament that will include seven players ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
"I'm excited about this weekend and the quality of tennis that will be played here," said Alabama head coach Billy Pate. "We're going to get a good look at teams from outside our region and we're even brining back several coaches with Alabama ties. The best part of all this though is that we'll get to play in front of our home crowd and in this great facility."
Four coaches with Alabama ties will return to Tuscaloosa for this weekend's tournament. One of those returning is Miami head coach Mario Rincon. Rincon has spent the last four seasons as an assistant at Alabama before being named the head coach at Miami just two weeks ago. Former Alabama No. 1 singles player Max Belski, now an assistant at Southern Mississippi, also returns. Belski was 63-58 in his career at the Capstone and was an All-American in 2001. Belski's coach at Alabama that season, Adam Steinburg, now at Pepperdine will bring his team to Tuscaloosa for the first time to participate in the tournament as will former Tide assistant Tad Berkowitz, now an assistant coach at Arizona.
Alabama has two players that grabbed seeds in Flight A. Joseph Jung, ranked No. 80 by the ITA is the tournament's fourth seed while Luigi D'Agord, who has been on a roll this fall, is the fifth seed. Just a sophomore but seeing his first real action this season, D'Agord is 8-3 and played his way from the qualifying draw at the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships to the main draw's Round of 16.
Other ranked players at the Crimson Tide Fall Championships include No. 31 Derrick Spice of Wake Forest, No. 45 David Canudas of Southern Mississippi and pair of Miami players, Josh Cohen and Eric Hechtman, who check in at No. 76 and No. 78 respectively.
The tournament will feature three flights of singles and doubles. There will be back draws in each flight so every player at the Championships will be guaranteed three matches. Play is set to begin Friday morning at 9 a.m. and finals will be play on Sunday.
Results will be posted at www.usta.com. A link to the tournament page will be provided at www.rolltide.com.
