TULSA, Okla. - The University of Hawai`i men's tennis team will kickoff the 2009-10 season at the D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships, beginning Saturday, Oct. 3 with the prequalifying rounds, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

 

More than 300 collegiate players from across the nation will play in the most prestigious singles and doubles tournament of the fall season. The D'Novo ITA All-American Tennis Championships entails five days of qualifying events beginning with a 256-player pre-qualifying singles tournament, which takes place on Oct. 3-4. The pre-qualifying feeds into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments on Oct. 5-7, which then feeds into the 64-player, 32-doubles team main draws on Oct. 8-11.

 

The Warriors will have six players competing in this tournament. UH senior Andreas Weber, junior Dennis Lajola, junior transfer Jeremy Tweedt, sophomores Leo Rosenberg and  Philipp Eberhard and freshman Dmytro Kovalyov will represent Hawai'i.

 

Eberhard, Kovalyov, Rosenberg and Tweedt will be competing in the pre-qualifying draw on Saturday, while Weber will start in the qualifying draw. In 2007 Weber earned an automatic berth into the main draw and advanced to the second round.

 

 Lajola automatically qualified for the main draw. Only 48 players received at large berths based on current ITA rankings. Lajola is ranked No. 43 in preseason ITA singles rankings, the junior's highest ranking ever.

 

In doubles action, the teams of Lajola/Tweedt and Weber/ Rosenberg will compete. Lajola and Tweedt are ranked No. 49 in the preseason doubles ranking and are believed to be the first-ever ranked Rainbow Warriors doubles team. There are no pre-qualifying rounds only qualifying and main draws in doubles. In the qualifying rounds a team must win three rounds. The main draw for doubles is a 32 player/team draw. The semi-finalists get an automatic berth into the November ITA National Indoors (individual) event hosted by Yale University.

 

What: D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships
Date: Oct. 3-11, 2009
Time: All Day
Where: Michael D. Case Tennis Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma

 

2008-09 Season Recap: The University of Hawai'i men's tennis team concluded the season ranked 41st in the final ITA Men's Division I rankings. It is the highest ranking ever for the Rainbow Warrior program. It was another banner year for the Rainbow Warriors who made it to their second straight NCAA Tournament. UH took down a pair of Top 20 teams, defeating Boise State in the WAC Tournament finals, then picking up the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win with a 4-3 first-round decision over Oklahoma State. Fell to UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UH finished with an 11-10 overall record.