Volunteer State Challenge Up Next for Men's Tennis

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee's men's tennis team hits the courts this weekend for the Volunteer State Challenge in Knoxville, Tenn., an event featuring the Blue Raiders as well as Tennessee, Vanderbilt, East Tennessee and Memphis. The tournament is scheduled for outdoors at the Varsity Tennis Courts but may move indoors because of inclement weather to the Goodfriend Tennis Center. Sophomore Morgan Richard and freshman Marc Rocafort both won twice in the Flight A draw at last weekend's Georgia Tech Invitational, and redshirt freshman Joao Paoliello also picked up two wins after a first-round loss in Flight A. The doubles tamdems of Richard-Rocafort and junior Marc Boiron-Paoliello both reached in the finals in Flight B. Two other Blue Raiders took part in the year's first collegiate grand slam event, the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships. Seniors Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom both struggled in the event. Born lost twice in qualifying singles, while Siljestrom lost twice in main draw singles but picked up a victory over VCU's 15th-ranked Arnaud Lecloerec. In doubles the duo, ranked third nationally and seeded second in the tournament, won their first match but dropped an 8-6 decision to an unranked tandem from LSU. The Blue Raiders have struggled through their first two tournaments of the fall, posting a 15-16 record in singles as a team, which includes three semifinal losses to players from Tennessee at the 20th Annual Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational three weeks ago. The squad is 3-4 in singles versus teams in the tournament and 1-1 in doubles. "In the fall I'm not as concerned with what we do as a team. It's more about individuals and trying to progress as an individual player," head coach Dale Short said. "We've only played two tournaments so far and now we play two in 10 days. "I hope we can get some positives out of this weekend. The guys seem to be in a good frame of mind and I think we'll do well, but we only have six guys and these teams will all be tough." Short said his biggest concern is the seniors, Siljestrom and Born, and improving their play heading into this weekend's action. "I'm anxious to see improvement in Andreas and Marco because they've lost some close matches and they are our team leaders. Those two guys are big catalysts for us in singles and doubles. How they go is a huge factor because the rest of our team is so young," Short said. The younger members of the squad produced good results at last week's Georgia Tech Invitational at Atlanta, Ga., giving each player confidence for this weekend's event as well as the upcoming ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Lexington, Ky., October 20-23. "I am excited about the progress I saw from the guys in Atlanta last weekend. They were a little up-and-down, but I was very pleased with Marc Rocafort and Morgan in doubles as well as Joao and Marc Boiron in doubles. The tournament this weekend should be a great warm-up for the regionals next week. Confidence gained this week will give us some realistic expectations in singles and doubles of going very deep in the regional tournament." Middle Tennessee is scheduled to play East Tennessee in singles at approximately 11:30 a.m. Friday and versus Tennessee in doubles at 5 p.m. Friday. On Saturday the Blue Raiders take on Tennessee in singles at 9:30 a.m. and then East Tennessee in doubles at 4 p.m. Sunday Middle Tennessee faces Memphis in singles at 9 a.m. and Vanderbilt in singles at 1 p.m. Results will be posted at the conclusion of each day's action. A schedule for the weekend may be found at http://utsports.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/archive/100906aaa.html.

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Marc Boiron

Marco Born

Morgan Richard

Marc Rocafort

Andreas Siljestrom

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