Allan and Schledorn begin the season ranked No. 8 after posting a 25-10 doubles mark last year and making the field for the NCAA Doubles Championships. The duo ended 2005 ranked 27th nationally after reaching as high as No. 18.

Siljestrom and Born start the season ranked 10th after posting a 29-9 doubles mark in 2004-05, the sixth most wins in a single season in school history. The tandem was ranked as high as 18th last year and defeated the No. 4-ranked team in the country in the opening round of the NCAA Doubles Championships. Siljestrom also begins the year ranked 57th in singles.

The Top 10 ranking for a pair of doubles teams is a first in Middle Tennessee history and just the fourth time a Blue Raider duo has been ranked in the Top 10 in the past five seasons. Daniel Klemetz and Kirk Jackson were ranked 10th to start the spring in 2003, while Oliver Foreman and Robert Gustafsson were in the Top 10 for three weeks in 2001-02, reaching as high as No. 5.

"It's very impressive for us to have two teams ranked in the Top 10. I know it's just the preseason, but it's great for our team and program," head coach Dale Short said. "They will to prove their wares and have a great opportunity this weekend. The field for the tournament is tremendous, one of the best quality fields we've ever had."

The 19th Annual Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational begins Friday at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center on the Middle Tennessee campus. Draws are currently on the men's tennis page at GoBlueRaiders.com, with play beginning Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. Two singles matches and one doubles match will take place Friday. Singles and doubles semifinals are Saturday, along with two rounds of consolation singles action. All singles and doubles finals will take place Sunday. The tournament has six singles brackets (16 players each) and three doubles brackets (16 teams each) and includes 91 players from 17 schools: Austin Peay, Auburn, Belmont, Chattanooga, Freed Hardeman, Indiana Univ.-Southeast, Indiana State, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Ole Miss, Southern Illinois, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky.

There are five ranked players in the A1 singles field -- Erling Tveit (#47, Ole Miss), Siljestrom (#57, Middle Tennessee), Alex Hume (#68, Kentucky), Nate Emge (#94, Kentucky) and Slarko Radman (#117, Louisville). Full results from each day may be found at GoBlueRaiders.com.

In Friday's opening round in Flight A1, Born takes on Indiana State's Anton Tsymbalov at 8:30 a.m., while Schledorn plays Kentucky's Hume, also at 8:30. Siljestrom faces Tennessee Tech's Shunsuke Shimizu at 9:30 a.m.

In Flight A2, Allan takes on Vanderbilt's Nathan Sachs at 10 a.m., while Greg Pollack plays Vandy's Evan Dufaux at 11 a.m., and Rishan Kuruppu faces TTU's Juan Carlos Rabaza at 11:30 a.m.

Marc Boiron plays Western Kentucky's Franco Serra at 1 p.m. in Flight A3 singles.

In doubles, Allan-Schledorn and Siljestrom-Born received a bye and do not play until Saturday. Pollack-Kuruppu take on Shimizu-Rabaza at 5 p.m., with all three Middle Tennessee duos participating in Flight A1.

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