Peers falls to No. 47 in country

TULSA, Okla. - Sophomore John Peers fell in the final round of qualifying at the ITA All-American Championships on Wednesday but not without a fight.

Peers won the first set 6-3 over Randolph Siwy of Fresno State. Siwy, ranked 47th in the country, rebounded to take the second set 6-3.

"He played a great first set and looked very comfortable out on the tennis court. John played within himself and for the first set looked like a top 30 player," head coach David McNamara said. "To the other Randolph's credit he started playing smarter and made John step out of his comfort zone. John has taking great strides in establishing himself as a very good college tennis player, there is still a lot of room for improvement but he is heading in the right direction."

With the match tied a one set each, Siwy took the lead and the match with a 6-1 win in the third set.

Middle Tennessee will have the weekend off to begin preparing for the Regional Indoor Tournament at University of Kentucky Oct.16th - 20th. This is the qualifying tournament for the National Indoors.

For a player to qualify for the National Indoor tournament they must make the final of the Regional Indoor tournament or be ranked in the top 10 of the country.

The last player to make the final of the Regional Indoor tournament was Fred Niemeyer in 1996. Neimyer lost to a former top 100 player in the world Michael Russell who played for the University of Miami at the National Indoor Tournament.