Men's Tennis Sends Six Players to Weekend Tournaments
9/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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Six Alabama men's tennis players begin their 2004 fall schedule this weekend in two of the nation's elite tournaments.
Sophomores Eric Molnar, Luigi D'Agord and Joseph Jung will compete in Waco, Texas at the Baylor Fall Invitational while freshmen Taylor Striplin, Billy Mertz and senior RJ Murray will compete at the 37th Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga.
"These are highly competitive tournaments and individual events that will really give our guys great experience against other experienced players," said head men's tennis coach Billy Pate.
Molnar, D'Agord and Jung will join 22 other teams at the Baylor Fall Invitational. D'Agord will see his first collegiate action since coming to Alabama. He redshirted last season. Jung was the Tide's most consistent player in 2004 and enters the season ranked No. 80 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Host team, Baylor, won the 2004 NCAA national championship and Pate believes they have attracted the best competition in the nation to the tournament that will begin Friday and run through Sunday.
"Baylor won the national championship last year and so they have really been able to attract great talent to this tournament," said Pate. "This should provide our guys with a tremendous challenge and that's why we go to events like these."
The 37th Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships will begin Friday morning and conclude Monday. Including Alabama's Striplin, Mertz and Murray, the tournament features 27 schools and over 140 student-athletes. It's one of the longest running tournaments in collegiate tennis and always features many of the nation's top players.
Mertz and Striplin will both play in the Division III singles draw and begin play Friday morning at 9 a.m. est. RJ Murray will compete in the Division II singles draw against SEC foe Jordan Magarik of Vanderbilt at 8 a.m. est.
Results will be available at www.rolltide.com. Complete tournament results for the Baylor Invitational will be available at www.usta.com and for the Southern Intercollegiate Championships at www.georgiadogs.com.
