Sept. 15, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The draws are out and the Tiger men's tennis team will face some stiff competition at this weekend's Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational.

Senior James Spence will participate in the A1 Singles bracket, a bracket that features four of the top 100 collegiate singles players in the country according to the Sept. 6th Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. Spence will open against Ole Miss' Bram ten Berge at 8:30 a.m., Friday, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Kai Schledorn (Middle Tennessee)/No. 68 Alex Hume (Kentucky) match. Also in the bracket will be No. 43 Erling Tveit from Ole Miss, No. 58 Andreas Siljestrom from host Middle Tennessee and No. 94 Nate Emge.

In Flight A2 singles, freshman Matt Brewer will play his first collegiate match, squaring off against Kentucky's Bruno Agosfinelli at 10:30 Friday morning. The winner of that match will face the winner of the Jordan Magarik (Vanderbilt)/Fausto Rocha (Belmont) match at 1:30 Friday afternoon.

A trio of Tigers are playing in the A3 Singles bracket, as newcomers Oskar Saarne and Michael Jetter join Alex Jago in that bracket. Saarne will open against Indiana State's Simon Thornewill, while Jago will open against Indiana University-Southeast's Josh Surowski at 12:30 p.m. Jetter will start his Tiger career against Michele Tanzeri from Tennessee Tech, at 1 p.m.

In B1 Singles, sophomore Bryan Bankester will start his second season against Lukas Hanak from Freed-Hardeman, with the winner advancing to face the winner of the Javier Rodriguez (Belmont)/Andrey Bubnov (SIU) match at 3 p.m.

Garrison Pilant will round out the Tigers' singles contingent, and the junior will face Michael Hangstefer from Chattanooga at 9:30 a.m., Friday, to start the season. The winner plays the winner of the Andy True (Western Kentucky)/Everton Silva (Freed-Hardeman) match.

In doubles, the Tigers know that they will have three new doubles teams for the year, and figuring out the pairings will begin this weekend. For the initial weekend of play, James Spence will pair with Oskar Saarne, and the twosome will face the team of Simon Thornewill and Anton Tsymbalov from Indiana State at 4:30 p.m., Friday. That A1 Doubles bracket also features two of the country's top 10 doubles teams, both hailing from host Middle Tennessee. Kai Schledorn and Brandon Allan are the country's No. 8 ranked doubles team, while Andreas Siljestrom and Marco Born are the No. 10 ranked team heading into the weekend. Another top 20 team is in the bracket, but has been split up for this tournament. Ole Miss' Jakob Klaeson and Erling Tveit are the preseason No. 20 team in the country, but Klaeson is slated to play with Bram ten Berge, while Tveit is partnering with with Christopher Rea this weekend.

Three Tigers will play doubles in the Flight Two bracket, as Matt Brewer and Alex Jago will pair together to play Francisco Redondo and Lukas Hanak from Freed-Hardemann, while Bryan Bankester will team with Indiana State's Rishi Behi to play Western Kentucky's Stan Rabinovics and Kyle Virgin at 5 p.m., Friday.

The final Tiger twosome will be Michael Jetter and Garrison Pilant. That duo will also play a Western Kentucky team, when they face Sam Patterson and Luke Durham, also at 5 p.m.

Results can be found at www.goblueraiders.com and complete day recaps will be updated at www.gotigersgo.com.