DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Wichita State men's tennis team will open the 2009 season Friday at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships, which will be held at the Drake Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Seven singles championships and three doubles championships are up for grabs as the Shockers look to start the season on a high note.
Sophomore Vladamir Marinescu will take the court for the first time as a Shocker at the No. 1 position in Friday's quarterfinal match against Southern Illinois's Lukas Waked, while sophomore Adrian Chermaci will take on Bradley's Callen Fraychineaud in the No. 2 quarterfinals. Freshman Michal Zawadzki will also make his Shocker debut at the event. The Szczecin, Poland native will battle Bradley's Skip Span in the No. 3 quarterfinals, with the No. 4 opening round match featuring junior Jonathan Obrist and Indiana State's Jon Sigurdsson. Sophomore Matt Teivans and freshman David Cavalcanti will occupy the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively. Teivans will open tournament play against Indiana State's Lorenz Ilg, while Cavalcanti will face Southern Illinois's Sebastian Rubiano in his opening round match. Sophomore Scott McCormick will round out the Shocker singles line-up with a quarterfinal match against Drake's Scott Buchowski.
In doubles play, Chermaci and Cavalcanti will make up the Shockers' No. 1 team, and will open play against the Illinois State tandem of Filip Miljevic and Timon Reichelt, while WSU's No. 2 duo of Zawadzki and Marinescu will face the Creighton duo of Gabe Nagy and James McAvoy in their quarterfinal match. Teivans and Obrist will team up as the Shockers' No. 3 doubles team, and will open their tournament against the Bradley tandem of Michel Macara-chvili and Trevor McGrath.
"This will be a good chance for us to get a feel for our team this season," Director of Tennis Chris Young said. "We've got a young team this year, so this tournament will give them a chance to gain some good experienes early in their careers."
Play is scheduled to begin Friday morning at 9 a.m. Results will be posted on goshockers.com as they become available.
--Wichita State--
