Oct. 1, 2004
Atlanta, Ga. – The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team begins competition in the 2004 Icy Hot/ITA Men’s All-American Championships this Friday. The championships will be taking place at the Champions Club starting October 1-10. The Icy Hot/ITA Men’s All-American Championship is the largest single tournament in collegiate tennis, with over 350 competitors, and is also the first of three national championship events during the 2004-05 season at the NCAA Division I level.
The Jackets will be led by sophomore Jose Luis Muguruza and freshmen doubles team Scott Blackmon and David North. Muguruza, the Wesley Chapel, Fla. native, reached the quarterfinals of the Southern Intercollegiate held in Athens, Ga. Muguruza was seeded tenth and posted a 3-1 record in the single competition. Muguruza teamed with Marko Rajevac for the doubles event and the duo reached the quarterfinals. Blackmon and North, competing in their first collegiate tournament, reached the finals of the Southern Intercollegiate. The tandem defeated doubles teams from the University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and tournament host University of Georgia.
Other competitors for Tech include, senior Noah Tyler, junior Rajevac, sophomore Zachary Rath, and freshman George Gvelesiani.
The Rambling Wreck enter the All-American Championships after competing in the Southern Intercollegiate last week, September 24-27. Tyler is posted a 1-1 record in Southern Intercollegiate defeating Thiago Barbosa of Winthrop, before falling to David Budler of Auburn-Montgomery. Rajevac also posted a 1-1 record, but reached the quarterfinals in doubles action, going 2-1 for the tournament. Rath will be competing in his first event of the year. Rath missed the first tournament of the season due to personal reasons. Three freshmen debuted for the Jackets at the Southern Intercollegiate. Gvelesiani reached the semifinals of the Consolation Draw, just better than North who reached the quarterfinals. Blackmon went 1-1 in singles play before teaming with North and reaching the finals in doubles.
The qualifying tournaments for the All-American Championships take place on October 1-6, with the showcase dates for this year’s tournament on October 7-10. The Icy Hot/ITA Men’s All-American Championships include 192-singles player and 96-doubles team pre-qualifying tournaments played October 1-3, which feed into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments October 4-6. The 64-player, 32-doubles team main draw takes place Oct. 7-10. The singles tournament fields can run over 350 players, making it the largest collegiate event of the season. A player who begins in pre-qualifying may have to win up to seven matches just to reach the main draw. Over 70 schools from across the country will be sending players to compete.
Complete information on this year’s tournament can be found of the official website for the ITA, www.itatennis.com.
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