Klemetz Wins Three, Allan Loses in Finals

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee's Daniel Klemetz went 3-1 in the ranked flight and freshman Brandon Allan lost in the Flight A singles finals over the weekend at the Charles Fluitt Invitational in Lexington, Ky.

Tenth-ranked Klemetz defeated No. 65 Evan Austin of Kentucky, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, Friday, and then had wins over Claes Lindholm of Ole Miss, 5-7, 6-1, 3-0, retired, and Vanderbilt's ninth-ranked Bobby Reynolds, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-0. The Blue Raider senior's only loss of the weekend was to the top-ranked player in the nation, Kentucky's Jesse Witten, who defeated Klemetz, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, Friday evening.

Four other Blue Raiders competed in Flight A singles over the weekend, with Allan advancing to the finals before losing 3-6, 2-6, to Paulo Carvalho of Louisville on Sunday. Allan defeated Murray State's Marek Pawelec (6-4, 6-1), Louisville's Matt Mayer (6-4, 6-4), and Tulane's Mattias Westerberg (2-6, 6-4, 6-2) on the way to the finals.

Junior Trevor Short defeated Eastern Kentucky's Lee Lester, 6-1, 6-0, on Friday, before dropping a 2-6, 2-6, decision to Vanderbilt's Zach Dailey. Short also dropped matches to Bennie Schmid of Murray State and Vanderbilt's Josh Tarkoff.

Greg Pollack lost his first match in the tournament, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), to Schmid on Friday before defeating Ross Schitter of Eastern Kentucky. Pollack also defeated EKU's John Kellert, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and lost to Louisville's Harry Walsh.

The other Blue Raider in the tournament, sophomore Rishan Kuruppu, lost to Westerberg, 3-6, 0-6, in the first round, and dropped matches to Kellert, Pawelec and Schitter during the tourney.

Middle Tennessee will begin prequalifying play for the 2002 Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships on Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the Champions Club. The Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships feature 256-singles player and 128-doubles team prequalifying tournaments played October 4-7, which feed into 64-player and 32-doubles team qualifying tournaments October 8-9. The 64-player, 32-doubles team main draw takes place Oct. 10-13.

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