Tennis Prepares for Polo Ralph Lauren/ITA All-American Championships

Sophomore Marc Rocafort, junior Morgan Richard and freshman John Peers were each invited to the national tournament.

"I want to give our guys the opportunity to play in these big national tournaments. I'm going out there thinking they should play well and win some matches," head coach David McNamara said. "Marc Rocafort is ranked 74th in the country and has earned the right to go. Morgan had a good year last year and I think is our second best player at the moment. He deserves the right to go. John is ranked in the world, so that is how he got into the draw. If Marc plays well I think he should get through to the main draw."

For a player to be invited they must be nominated. After being nominated, the National Tournament Committee selects and announces the players who haven been chosen to compete in the tournament.

Peers will begin the tournament in pre-qualifying where he will face Brad Mixson of Florida State at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Richard will also play Saturday as he plays Florida State's Bobby Deye at 1 p.m. in the second round of pre-qualifying.

"Morgan and John have to play pre-qualifying so they will play three or four matches a day Saturday and Sunday. If they play well I feel like they should get through," McNamara said.

Rocafort will begin play Monday in the qualifying rounds of the tournament.

The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships include five days of qualifying events that precede the October 4-7 main draw. A 128-player pre-qualifying tournament takes place Sept. 29-30. This feeds into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments Oct.1-3, which then feeds into the 64-player, 32-doubles team main draws.

Results from the Polo Ralph Lauren/ITA All-American Championships will be available on www.goblueraiders.com.

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