Nov. 2, 2011
USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship site
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ATLANTA – Georgia Tech senior Kevin King, who won last week’s USTA/ITA Southeast Regional singles championship in Athens, is in the singles draw for this weekend’s USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, while King and partner Juan Spir, the nation’s top-ranked doubles team, are in the doubles draw of the event.
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which showcases top players from every level of college tennis, serves as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia University and played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women. The competition begins Thursday and concludes Sunday with the championship matches in each draw.
King, a senior from Peachtree City, Ga., opens competition Thursday with a first-round match against Vasko Mladenov of St. John’s. One of six players in both the singles and doubles draws this weekend, he has a 12-2 fall record and a six-match winning streak as a result of his run to the regional title last week. His career singles record is 64-33.
Spir and King made the semifinals of the doubles completion in this event last fall, losing in three sets to the eventual champions, spurring the tandem to a strong spring season as the Yellow Jackets’ No. 1 team. They both earned All-American and All-ACC honors and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championship. They posted a 34-11 record together and are 44-17 for their careers.
They have a first-round bye in the doubles draw and will face Columbia’s Nathaniel Gery and Winston Lin in the round of 16 Thursday.
“The national indoors is a prestigious event that has only the best 32 singles players and best 20 doubles teams in the nation,” said Tech coach Kenny Thorne. “Kevin has worked hard over the past three seasons and deserves to be included in that group. I don’t think too many guys across the nation made it in singles and doubles. He had a very good week of practice and will be extremely dangerous indoors on the fast courts.
“Juan and Kevin are looking forward to another opportunity at a national tournament. They played well there last year and barely lost in three sets to the eventual champion team. Having that experience will definitely help them in the event this year. We appreciate Patrick McEnroe opening up the National Tennis Center to this national collegiate event and hosting us. It is a powerful inspiration to be playing on the site where so many great champions have competed and won at the U.S. Open. “
The men’s singles field features all of the Top 10 players in the nation, while six of the Top 10 teams in the country will compete in men’s doubles, including the ITA All-American main draw champions Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola of Ohio State, who defeated King and Spir in a three-set final Oct. 9 in Tulsa, Okla.
Gaining automatic entry into the tournament are champions from the USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl, and the consolation champions, doubles finalists and singles quarterfinalists from the ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships.
JACKETS IN BULLDOG SCRAMBLE
Senior Dusan Miljevic and freshman Eduardo Segura Mandarino are headed back to Athens for the third time this fall to compete in the Bulldog Scramble, which is a series of matches against members of other Southeastern schools in a round-robin format. Competition begins Friday and continues through Sunday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
