Oct. 20, 2010
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s men’s tennis team returns to action Thursday in the USTA/ITA Regional event being held in Gainesville, Fla. It is one of 12 such events on the Division I level being held around the country, some of which began Sunday. The Gainesville regional runs through Sunday on the campus of the University of Florida.
USTA/ITA Southeast Regional draw
Complete coverage of the USTA/ITA Regional Championships
The USTA/ITA Regional Championships, which began Sunday across the country, feature some of the top men’s and women’s players competing in each of the ITA’s regions over the course of the next two months. Over 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete in the USTA/ITA Regional Championships held at 85 different college campuses across the country.
All-American Guillermo Gomez headlines the Georgia Tech contingent competing in the event, and is seeded No. 1 in the 128-player regional draw. The senior from Alicante, Spain, ranked No. 4 in the nation, has won eight of nine singles matches this fall, winning the singles title at the Southern Intercollegiate and making the round of 16 at the D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships.
Juan Spir, a sophomore from Medellin, Colombia, has demonstrated great improvement this fall, posting a 9-3 record while qualifying for the main draw at the D’Novo/ITA and reaching the quarterfinals of the SIC.
Among the others competing this weekend are junior Kevin King of Peachtree, Ga., ranked 70th in the nation and seeded fifth this weekend, and senior Eliot Potvin of Hampden, Maine, ranked No. 80 and seeded No. 7, and junior Dusan Miljevic of Novi Sad, Serbia, who made the quarterfinals of the SIC and is 7-3. Seniors Dean O’Brien and Ryan Smith and sophomore Magin Ortiga are also in the draw.
Two of Tech’s three doubles teams appear in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. King and Spir, who got to the finals of the SIC, are No. 60, while Potvin and senior Ryan Smith are No. 43. King and Spir are seeded third in the 64-team draw this weekend, while Potvin and Smith are seeded sixth.
The singles and doubles champions from the NCAA Division I USTA/ITA Regional Championships will advance to the 2010 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, taking place November 4-7, at the new indoor facilities at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located in Flushing, N.Y. Columbia University will serve as the tournament host.
The most unique element of the USTA/ITA Intercollegiate Championships program is the fact that all levels of varsity college tennis (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College) are competing in one comprehensive event, and any ITA varsity student-athlete has the opportunity to play and win at the prestigious USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
