Nashville – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team travels east to Knoxville on Thursday to kick off the ITA Regional tournament.
Twenty-one teams from around the Ohio Valley region are set to compete in the tournament at the University of Tennessee. The tournament includes a 128-player singles draw, a 64-team doubles draw and a first-round loser back draw.
The Commodores will travel eight members of the team including freshman Marcus Ferreira, sophomores Max Freeman, George Harwell and Adam Sraberg, juniors Billy Rowe and Panu Virtanen and seniors No. 7 Cameron Klinger and Alex Ross.
In the previous season, Commodore alumni, Daniel Valent returned to Nashville champion of the 2017 ITA Regional tournament in singles play defeating Tennessee’s Stodder in a straight set win; 6-1, 6-1. The Dores are looking to continue this success in this year’s tournament starting tomorrow.
The Dores enter the regional tournament with four players ranked in the top twenty-five of the main draw of singles play. In the top ten, Klinger sits as the No. 2 seed and Rowe is ranked as the No. 10 seed. Sophomores Harwell and Freeman are also ranked as the No. 15 and No. 22 seeds respectively.
In doubles play, doubles tandem Klinger and Rowe lead the main draw ranked as the No. 1 seed in the tournament overall.
As for many seniors, this regional tournament will be the last for senior Alex Ross who graduates in May.
“It feels a little weird going into this regional tournament since I know this will be one of the last tournaments I will play in my college career. This tournament feels more special to me and I’m really excited to be competing in it,” said Ross.
The tournament will open up with the Round of 128 in singles play Thursday morning followed by the first round of doubles play. Matches will continue throughout the weekend concluded by the finals on Monday, Oct. 15.
To keep up with the Commodores in Knoxville, follow @VandyMensTennis and @ITAOhioValley on Twitter.
