Men's Tennis Impressive in ITA Tournament
October 5, 2003

The UT Tyler tennis team competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) southwestern championship tournament with 12 other teams at Trinity University in San Antonio on Saturday and the Patriots sent three players into the round of 16. UT Tyler men's team won a total of 12 matches in the main draw.

Greg Jones, seeded seventh, advanced to the quarterfinals of the 128-man draw before losing to D.J. Petros from Trinity 6-0, 4-6 (10-5). Jones won the first set easily and appeared to be on his way into the semifinals when Petros made an adjustment in his game and found a way to frustrate Jones.

"He took the ball out of his strike zone by hitting high hard loopy shots that landed deep on the baseline and Greg did not adjust in time", said UT Tyler Head Coach Ken Olivier. "It's unfortunate, because Greg had the potential to win the tournament but came up short."

Jones defeated several good players en route to the quarterfinals, including Simon Moreno from McMurry University 6-0, 6-0; Eric Husa from Pacific Lutheran University 7-6 (4), 6-3; and Phalkun Mam from Whitman 6-2, 5-7 (10-6).

Adam Stone received a bye in the first round before defeating Nick Klein from Howard Payne University 6-1, 6-1. He then defeated Eric Janssen from Linfield, WA 6-4, 3-5 (10-7). In his first match Janssen defeated the #1 seed from Trinity, Stefan Parker. Stone then fell to the eleventh seeded Matt Larimore from Pacific Lutheran University by a score of 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Patrick Painter, seeded sixteenth, defeated Brandon Baker from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-3, 6-2. Painter then defeated Jeremy Stone, #22 seed from Trinity University 7-6 (5), 6-4 before losing to Steven Ly, #6 seed from Whitman 6-1, 7-6 (5).

Maciek Hunek defeated Patrick Disney from Trinity University 6-1, 6-3 before losing to Brad Grace, #5 seed from Hardin Simmons 6-0, 6-2.

Dallas Long lost to the twelfth seed Nick Kaloudis from Trinity 6-2, 6-2 . Andy White beat Jordan Mangano from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor 6-1, 6-3 before losing to Matt Larimore (#11) from Pacific Lutheran. Kevin Cook lost to David Wu, seeded #5 in the first round 6-1, 6-2. Robbie Burdsall lost in the first round to Luke Roloff, Pacific Lutheran University 6-3, 6-3.

Greg Jones and Patrick Painter made the quarterfinal round in doubles by defeating Fierro/Cherry from McMurry 8-0 and Plowman/Lehman from Hardin Simmons 8-6. They lost to Miller/Miller from Whitman by the score 8-3.

Stone and Hunek defeated Price/Disney from Trinity University 8-1 before losing to Grace/Wu (#4 seeds) from Hardin Simmons 8-6.

Cook and Long lost to Whitman's team of Changstrom/Munday 8-6. Burdsall and White lost to Narvid/Roatan from Hardin Simmons 8-4.

"We had a good tournament - Trinity University is ranked #6 in the nation and won the national championship in 2000, and we won three matches off of them in our first ITA tournament," said Olivier. "Not to mention, Adam Stone beat the player that knocked off the top ranked Trinity player and Greg Jones was up 6-0 on Trinity's #2 player before eventually losing."

UT Tyler's three players advancing into the round of 16 in singles was second only to Trinity's five.

The UT Tyler men's tennis team went undefeated in dual match play this fall and has a 5-0 record. Their next scheduled competition is January 31, 2004, a homecoming day match against Howard Payne University at the Summers Tennis Center on UT Tyler's campus.

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