Men's Tennis Opens Season at PSU Fall Classic
9/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 11, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The men's tennis team will kick off its fall season at the Penn State University Fall Classic Sept. 12-14 in University Park, Pa. Along with Alabama, and host Penn State, N.C. State, Pepperdine and Princeton will also take part in the round-robin competition.
"This is a great opportunity for us to open up somewhere different in terms of the region and opponents," said head coach Billy Pate. "It is going to be good to see our freshmen play as well as see how our upperclassmen have improved over the summer. I know they have been working extremely hard."
Alabama will square off against players from Penn State to open the competition Friday with both singles and doubles at 8:00 a.m. (CST). On Saturday, the Tide will match up with N.C. State at Noon (CST). Sunday's action will feature all five teams beginning at 8:00 a.m. (CST).
A total of nine Tide tennis players made the trip to University Park including seniors Dan Buikema, Andrew Felsenthal, Michael Jung and Mathieu Thibaudeau, juniors Saketh Myneni and Houssam Yassine, sophomore Trey Walston and freshmen Creighton Blanchard and Ricky Doverspike. Each member from Alabama will get the opportunity to play in one singles and one doubles match.
The Tide finished the 2007-08 season with a 19-10 record. Alabama returns the duo of Buikema and Thibaudeau that advanced to the NCAA Tournament before falling to the No. 1 seed of Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey from Virginia.
"This year we have a very deep, balanced team," said Pate. "I think our strength down the road is definitely going to be that balance from No. 1 to No. 6."
The Tide placed three singles and one set of doubles on the ITA's preseason rankings for 2008. Myneni ranks No. 45 on the singles chart followed by Thibaudeau at No. 57 and Billy Mertz at No. 106. Buikema and Thibaudeau stand at No. 14 on the doubles ledger.
Four of the five teams at the PSU Fall Classic ended the 2007-08 season in the ITA National Rankings with Pepperdine at No.12, Alabama at No. 24, Penn State at No. 39 and N.C. State at No. 52.
Following the PSU Fall Classic, Alabama travels to New York, N.Y. for the USTA Men's Invitational Sept. 19-21. The Tide's first, and only, event of the fall season takes place Oct. 24-26 when Alabama hosts the Crimson Tide Fall Championships.
Players Mentioned
