Armstrong Atlantic State Hosts 2007 ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional This Weekend

SAVANNAH, Ga. ' Armstrong Atlantic State University will host the 2007 ITA Mid-Atlantic Tennis Regional this weekend as more than 180 men's and women's players representing 18 Division II schools descend upon Savannah for a chance to advance to the 2007 ITA Small College Championships.

Play begins at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 22, with men's and women's doubles action, followed by two rounds of singles play in both main draws. The men's singles draw should be very competitive with no clear-cut favorite among the seeded players. Seven of the eight top seeds were nationally ranked at the end of last season, including top seed Erick Siqueira of GCSU, who finished last season ranked No. 13.

Host AASU has the next two seeded players in second-seeded Davor Zink (No. 21) and third-seeded Paul Bishop (No. 24), while USC Aiken's Dagoberto Darezzo (No. 32) is seeded fourth. The 5-8 seeds include FMU's Franklin Emmanuel (No. 42), USC Aiken's Bruno Seves (No. 43) and AASU's Christian Bergh (No. 50) as well as newcomer Guiherme Fonseca of Lander.

The men's doubles draw is led by the top-seeded ITA All-American duo of Robert Jendelund and Christian Bergh of host AASU, who finished last season ranked No. 7 in DII. The second seed is the USC Aiken team of Darezzo and Edward Horne, who finished last season ranked No. 21. Lander has the next two seeded duos with Andre Ivarsson and Henrik Willers third and Fonseca and George Wilkinson of Lander fourth.

On the women's side, defending ITA DII singles champion Iuliia Stupak of host AASU will not be playing due to injury, throwing the singles field wide open. The top seeded singles player will be Stupaks' teammate, Johanna Dahlback, who finished the 2007 season ranked No. 7 in singles. Seeded second will be Clayton State's Anna Redesci, the Peach Belt's Freshman of the Year in 2007 and the No. 13-ranked singles player at the end of last season. AASU sophomore Gabriella Kovacs (No. 29) is seeded third, while Clayton State's Julia Chergova (No. 32) is seeded fourth. The 5-8 seeds include FMU's Sarka Vitkova (No. 35), CSU's Agata Polcyn (No. 45) and AASU's Sofia Haggstrom (No. 49) as well as USC Aiken's Kristin Hunter.

The women's doubles draw features the top-seeded duo of Chergova and Redesci from Clayton State, the fifth-ranked doubles duo at the end of 2007; second-seeded Jenny Ludwig and Vitkova from FMU (No. 24); Dahlback and Haggstom from AASU are the No. 3 seed and fellow Pirate teammates Martina Beckmann and Alida Muller-Wehlau are the No. 4 seed.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional features schools from the Peach Belt Conference and the Carolinas Conference. Other schools not mentioned above who are sending players to Savannah this weekend include Augusta State, UNC Pembroke and North Georgia from the Peach Belt, as well as Anderson, Barton, Erskine, Mount Olive, Queens (N.C.), Limestone, Pfeiffer, Converse and Lees-McRae from the Carolinas. The winners of the men's and women's single and doubles main draw will advance to the 2007 ITA Small College National Championships in Mobile, Ala., on October 11-14. Winners of all eight regions will meet to crown the DII singles and doubles champion, with the champions entering the Rolex Super Bowl, pitting the winners of the DII, DIII, NAIA and Junior College brackets in a tournament to crown the small college champion of the year.

Play begins on Saturday with singles and doubles action and goes through Monday with the championship matches. AASU, Savannah Country Day and Bacon Park will host matches throughout the weekend. For complete draws and results, please visit the 2007 ITA Mid-Atlantic Region site at: http://www.athletics.armstrong.edu/ita2007regional.html .