Men's Tennis Opens Fall Season at Fighting Illini Invitational
9/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 16, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The men's tennis team opens the fall portion of its schedule this weekend when it travels to Olympia Fields, Ill., to participate in the Olympia Fields Country Club Fighting Illini Invitational. The tournament gets underway on Friday, Sept. 17 and ends Sunday, Sept. 19. It offers players a unique experience, as it is only one of two Division I clay court tournaments in the nation. Teams participating along with Alabama include host institution Illinois, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
"Having the opportunity to play at Olympia Fields will be a great experience for our team," Alabama head coach Billy Pate said. "We competed in this event four years ago, and the hospitality displayed by the staff, members and the University of Illinois was phenomenal. It's also unique in that we compete on clay courts, which is unusual in college tennis. It provides a chance for us to see some early season competition against highly ranked teams in Illinois, Notre Dame and Wake Forest. We have a couple of guys returning from injuries along with some young guys, so our goal is to put them in some highly competitive situations and gauge where they are."
The Crimson Tide is looking to build off of last season where it finished with a 13-14 record but did qualify for the NCAA Tournament. It was the fifth consecutive season in which the Tide advanced to postseason play. Alabama will have to replace two valuable seniors from last season, as Saketh Myneni and Houssam Yassine combined for 38 singles wins and 31 doubles victories. Myneni was an integral part of the lineup, playing at the No. 1 position in singles and doubles, while Yassine provided stability to the bottom of the lineup. The Tide does return seven players from a season ago, while two new players have been added to the roster.
Trey Walston will be the lone senior on this year's squad. He played singles sparingly a season ago, picking up six wins overall, including two at the No. 6 spot in dual matches. He provided major contributions in doubles competition, finishing the season tied for second on the team in doubles victories with 21. Walston and Yassine closed out the fall portion of last season with a 13-3 record. Walston then posted an 8-5 mark at the No. 3 position in the spring, including going 5-3 in SEC action with Jarryd Botha.
Alabama will have four juniors on the roster this season. Creighton Blanchard, Ricky Doverspike, and Michael Thompson are all returners from last year, while transfer Vikram Reddy in a newcomer.
Blanchard picked up seven victories in singles and nine in doubles in limited action last season. He played most of his matches in the fall, but was able to record one dual win in singles at the No. 6 spot and two in doubles at the No. 3 spot. Doverspike brings a lot of experience into his junior season, as he was the only Tide player to collect at least 20 wins in singles and doubles last season. He led the team in singles wins, collecting a total of 23 throughout the year. He played most of his dual matches at the No. 2 position, posting 10 victories. Doverspike played multiple matches at all three doubles spots, but was still able to finish tied for second in wins with Walston at 21. Overall, 13 of his 21 wins came in dual competition.
Thompson should also provide the Alabama lineup with some stability. He amassed 15 singles and 16 doubles wins last season. He spent the majority of the dual season at the No. 4 singles position, where he claimed all but two of his dual wins. He was also a solid performer at the No. 2 doubles spot, finishing with a 7-5 record. Reddy, a native of Andhra Pradesh, India, comes in with impressive credentials from his time in International Tennis Federation juniors competition. He was ranked No. 2 nationally in the under 18 division. He claimed one singles title and nine doubles titles, including winning the 2008 national championship in doubles.
There will be three sophomores on the Tide's squad this year in Harris Barnard, Jarryd Botha, and Ian Chadwell. Barnard only played a total of eight singles matches and one doubles match a year ago, but did pick up a singles victory at the No. 6 position in dual competition. Botha joined the team in January just in time for the spring season, so this will be his first experience with the fall schedule. He made an immediate impact, posting a total of 18 singles and 15 doubles victories. He played all but one of his singles matches at either the No. 3 or No. 4 spot, collecting 14 dual wins, which is the most of any returning player. Of his 15 doubles victories, eight came in dual competition at the No. 3 position. Chadwell gained a lot of experience in his freshman campaign, mostly in singles. He sat out the fall while recovering from an injury, but played in 15 matches in the spring. He went through his struggles, but managed to collect eight wins, including posting a 4-2 mark in conference play.
The lone freshman for Alabama this year will be Carlos Taborga. He was a member of Bolivia's Davis Cup team at the ages of 16 and 17, competing in the qualifying round. He played ITF tournaments in his final year of junior competition, claiming titles in consecutive tournaments in South America. He was one of the best players in his country for a number of years, winning the title in just his second appearance in a national tournament in the under 14 division. He also won a pair of national doubles titles. In addition, Taborga spent two years training in Madrid, Spain, where he won several junior tournaments.
Players Mentioned
