Men?s Tennis Travels to Baylor HEB Intercollegiate Championship
9/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA -- Three Alabama men’s tennis players will begin their 2006-07 season this weekend at the sixth annual Baylor HEB Intercollegiate Championship.
Senior Joseph Jung, freshman Saketh Myneni and junior Taylor Striplin will be among the competitors at the event representing Alabama. The tournament consists of 26 schools with over 120 student-athletes participating. The impressive field includes 31 players currently ranked among the FILA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national rankings including 13 of the top 50 and four of the nation's top 10. In fact, almost half of the players in the gold draw are ranked nationally.
Jung, who won 21 matches last season and earned a berth into the NCAA Singles Championship, is currently ranked No. 35 in the nation, the highest ranking of his career. He’ll compete as the No. 10-seed in the highly competitive gold draw.
Myneni will begin his Alabama career this weekend. The 6-4 freshman won the 2004 Indian National Championship.
“We’re looking forward to the Baylor HEB Intercollegiate as it promises to be an extremely competitive field,” Alabama head coach Billy Pate said. “The Baylor coaches have attracted some of the best players in the country and that is evident in the fact the Joseph Jung is ranked No. 35 in the country yet only a No. 10 seed in the draw. Certainly it will present a great challenge to our guys but we want our fall schedule to be difficult so that we can work out the kinks and get ready for the dual match season.”
The tournament will consist of two 64-player singles draws, gold and green, and two 32-team doubles draws (gold and green). Baylor's Lars Poerschke is the tournament's highest ranked player at No. 4. Other top 10 participants include: No. 7 Amau Brugues (Tulsa), No. 8 Erling Tvert (Ole Miss) and No. 9 Jerry Makowski (Texas A&M).
