Men's Tennis Opens Fall Season With Two Tournaments
10/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 1, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
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This Week For The SpartansITA All-American Pre-qualifying Oct. 3-6 All Day Chattanooga, Tenn.Notre Dame Invitational Oct. 3-5 All Day South Bend, Ind.FALL SEASON GETS UNDERWAY: The 2003-04 Michigan State men's tennis team kicks off its season with two separate tournaments, the ITA All-American Pre-Qualifying Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the Notre Dame Invitational, also known as the Tom Fallon Invitational. Chris Mitchell and Andrew Formanczyk will travel to Tennessee for the second consecutive year as each won their respective first round matches in 2002. The remaining eight Spartans head to South Bend, Ind., where MSU returns to the Notre Dame Invitational after not competing last season.
Michigan State Spartans(0-0 Overall, 0-0 Big Ten)Head coach: Gene OrlandoCareer (16th Season):170-210, MSU (13th): 139-170Assistant Coach: Al PolonyiSecond Season
DO YOU HAVE A LATE PASS?: MSU's Oct. 3 tournaments mark the latest start since the 2000-01 season when MSU traveled to the Indiana State Invitational Oct. 6.
PAST TOURNAMENT OPENERS: Here are the five previous fall season openers Michigan State has taken part in:
2002 Ball State Invitational (Sept. 27-29)2000 Ball State Invitational (Sept. 21-23)2000 Indiana State Invitational (Oct. 6-8)1999 National Clay Courts (Sept. 23) Ball State Invitational (Sept. 24-26)1998 National Clay Courts (Sept. 25-27) Ball State Invitational (Sept. 25-27)
STRONG BEGINNINGS: In last year's first tournament, Chris Mitchell and Eric Simonton won their first two matches of the Ball State Invitational and former Spartan standout Adam Hourani won the Consoloation B flight in singles. This weekend's tournament at Notre Dame, unlike the BSU Invite, will be a hiddin dual tournament, where the format is similar to a dual match in the spring and does not have brackets.
THIS WILL BE TOUGH: Formanczyk and Mitchell will be participating in one of the largest college tournaments of the year with three separate draws scheduled. The two Spartan representatives will kick off the pre-qualifying bracket Oct. 3, which runs until Oct. 6. The qualifying round will take place Oct. 7-8 and the main draw is set for Oct. 9-12. There will be both a singles and doubles section and most of the matches will be held at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. Formanczyk received a No. 1 seed and his first match begins at Friday at 8 a.m., vs. Michele Panzeri of Tennessee Tech. Mitchell, meanwhile, will play at 10:30 a.m., vs. Derek Haybittel of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
MOVING UP: The 2002-03 Spartans completed their season ranked No. 57 in the nation and No. 8 in the region. Formanczyk entered the individual regional rankings at No. 15 in singles.
NEXT IN LINE: MSU will visit Ann Arbor, Mich., Oct. 10-12 for the Michigan Invitational as a tune-up for the ITA Midwest Regional the following weekend in East Lansing. The trip to Ann Arbor will be the first of three on the season as UM hosts the Big Ten Singles Indoor Championships in November and the dual match between the Wolverines and the Spartans March 31, 2004.