Rebel Netters To Compete In ITA Southeast Region This Weekend

Oct. 13, 2004

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team will compete in one of the toughest tournaments in the nation this weekend (Oct. 14-18), as they take to the courts in Memphis, Tenn., for the Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Indoor Championships. The tournament begins Thursday with the qualifying draw at the Racquet Club of Memphis.

The main draw, which will be played at the Racquet Club and Club 6-50, begins Friday and concludes Monday with the championship match for singles and doubles.

Competing in singles for the Rebels this weekend will be Fredrik Aarum, Karim Alayli, Eric Claesson, David Donaldson, Juan Pablo Di Cesare and Bram ten Berge. Everyone except for Donaldson is in the main draw. Donaldson will face Kentucky's Jason Mallaiah in the first round of qualifying Thursday morning. He will have to win twice to get into the main draw.

This weekend's tournament is the qualifying event for the ITA National Indoor Championships, the second college major, to be held Nov. 4-7 in Ann Arbor, Mich. Senior Catalin Gard is already in the main draw by virtue of his winning last weekend's Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships (the first collegiate major of the year). Gard, the nation's No. 1 ranked player, held up his ranking, getting to the final without dropping a set. In the final, Gard, the 2004 SEC Player of the Year, defeated last year's Pac-10 Player of the Year, Stanford's Sam Warburg, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 to win his first national title.

The Southeast is regarded as the top tennis region in the country with three teams finishing the 2004 season ranked among the nation's top 10, including Ole Miss at No. 5. Eight teams from the region ended the year in the top 25. Half of the top 10 players in this year's preseason national rankings are from the Southeast Region. This weekend's field will include No. 3 ranked Jesse Witten of Kentucky and No. 6 ranked Gabor Zolton Pelva of Auburn.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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