Oct. 12, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Two Tiger men's tennis players will begin their runs in the ITA Southeast Regional in the qualifying singles draw which opens Thursday. Junior Garrison Pilant will open at 9 a.m., Thursday, against Nicholls State's Vepd Popa, while sophomore Bryan Bankester will play at 10:45 against Chattanooga's Ryan Fitzgerald.

The ITA Southeast Regional is one of the premier collegiate tennis competitions in the country. The finalists in the singles draw and the doubles champions automatically qualifying for the ITA Indoor Championships, the second of three ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) championship events. The NCAA Championships are the third leg of the ITA championship circuit.

Mississippi State's Girod Florent is the top seed in the qualifying draw, while Alabama's Andrew Felsenthal, brother of former Tiger Scott Felsenthal, is the No. 2 seed. Mississippi State's Erin Lim is the NO. 3 seed and Miami's Shauny Hoyes is the No. 4 seed. Florida's Shaun Young, Miami's Vivek Subramanian, Georgia State's Clarence Boyd and UCF's Brock Sakey are all No. 5 seed. All players will begin play in the first round, Thursday, at The Racquet Club of Memphis. Admission is free.

The complete draw (and results) can be viewed online at www.usta.com and entering tournament ID 704207805. The match-ups are also listed below:

9:00 a.m.
No. 1 seed Florent Girod (Mississippi State) vs. Pascal Duttlinger (Troy)
Vepd Popa (Nicholls State) vs. Garrison Pilant (Memphis)
No. 5 Vivek Subramanian (Miami) vs. Arturo Navarro (Chattanooga)
Gianfranco Dossena (Florida Atlantic) vs. John Tragardh (LSU)
No. 4 Shauny Hoyes (Miami) vs. Jordie Kindervater (Alabama)
Andrew Naidu (Austin Peay) vs. Ryan Farlow (Mississippi State)

10:15 a.m.
No. 5 Clarence Boyd (Georgia State) vs. Mauricio Paiz (Florida Atlantic)

10:30 a.m.
Yuri Pompeu (Murray State) vs. Eric Deroche (LSU)
Martel Campbell (LSU) vs. Nicolas Kziesotolski (Murray State)
Jacek Twarowski (Georgia State) vs. No. 5 Shaun Young (Florida)

10:45 a.m.
Bryan Bankester (Memphis) vs. Ryan Fitzgerald (Chattanooga)

11:30 a.m.
J.P. Bounassar (Florida Atlantic) vs. No. 3 Eric Lim (Mississippi State)
Josh Irey (Mississippi State) vs. Ondrej Krivka (SE Louisiana)

11:45 a.m.
Borja Zarco (Tennessee Tech) vs. No. 5 Brock Sakey (UCF)

Noon
Juan Garzon (Southern Miss) vs. Kevin Dessauer (LSU)
Lucas de Brito (Austin Peay) vs. No. 2 Andrew Felsenthal (Alabama)