Fall Slate Starts Friday

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma men's tennis team's bid to improve on last year's national runner-up finish begins Friday as the 2014 fall season gets under way.

The Sooners have nine events slated in a fall schedule that should be a great primer for a team with lofty aspirations for the spring season.

“We are excited to get a new season started,” sixth-year head coach John Roddick said. “Our players have the opportunity to play some pro events along with the top college tournaments this fall. We had a great fall last year and we will expect more of the same this fall as well.”

The team begins play Friday in Athens, Ga., the site of last year's historic NCAA Tournament finish, at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships hosted by the University of Georgia. The tournament features three singles brackets and two doubles brackets to be contested over four days.

Three Sooners will compete in the 64-player Division I singles draw. Junior Axel Alvarez drew the No. 1 overall seed and will have a bye in the round of 64. Alvarez will begin play Saturday at 11 a.m. CT against the winner of Christopher Eubanks of Georgia Tech and Dylan Comerford of Winthrop.

On the other side of the bracket, redshirt senior Nick Papac begins play Friday morning at 10 a.m. against Cole Fiegel of Georgia Tech while Sooner sophomore Alex Ghilea faces Forrest Edwards of Charlotte at 11:30 a.m. CT

Papac and Ghilea will also represent the Sooners in doubles. The duo, which paired five times in 2013-14 for a 3-2 record, received a bye in the round of 64 and will begin play Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT against Alex Calott and Paul Cisti of Charlotte.

The finals for both Division I doubles and Division I singles will be contested Monday, September 15. For complete tournament information visit http://bit.ly/WQ9foK.

To see OU's full 2014 fall schedule click here: http://bit.ly/1pVf1wa

For more on OU Men's Tennis, follow the team @OU_MTennis on Twitter.