Sept. 13, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team will open its 2007-08 season this Friday and Saturday with the two-day Vanderbilt Invitational. The four-team event, which also includes East Tennessee State, Louisville and Tennessee, will be held at the Currey Tennis Center.
“The thinking for this tournament is to get our guys to play as much in two days as possible,” head coach Ian Duvenhage said. “It is a good opportunity to see where we are and what we have. I’m going to tinker with the lineup and give people an opportunity to play in different spots in the lineup.”
Competition will commence at 8 a.m. each day with the final singles matches beginning at 4:30 p.m. The event is setup so that all four teams have the opportunity to play two singles matches and two doubles matches each day.
The Commodores will first hit the court at 9:30 a.m. on Friday for a doubles match against Tennessee. Vanderbilt will also play its first singles match against Tennessee at 10:30 a.m.
The first singles match on Friday will pit Louisville against East Tennessee State at 8 a.m.
Led by Duvenhage, who is entering his third season at Vanderbilt, the Commodores enter the 2007-08 season with a very young team that includes seven underclassmen on a 10-man roster.
“We’ve been in practice for two weeks, and you get a feel for where we are in practice, but I want to see where the new guys are in matches,” Duvenhage said.
Individually, Vanderbilt will be led by senior and two-time All-SEC selection Ryan Preston.
The Commodores are coming off their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven seasons. Vanderbilt concluded last season by upsetting Tulsa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to LSU in the second round.
Complete results from the event will be posted on vucommodores.com at the conclusion of each day’s competition.