Blue Raiders to begin fall season

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee men's tennis team will open the fall season at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships hosted by the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., this weekend.

Click here for the draws at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships.

Competing for the Blue Raiders this weekend are returns senior Kyle Wishing, junior Matthew Langley, and sophomore Shaun Waters. It will be Waters' first fall with Middle Tennessee as he joined the team in January last season.

Middle Tennessee adds freshman Elliot Barnwell of Warwickshire, England to their squad this season. Barnwell, a 6-3 left-handed player, has a impressive resume having advanced to the semi-finals of the Orange Bowl, which is the most notable junior tournament outside of the grand slam, and received a scholarship to attend the Bollettieri Tennis Academy.

"The Southern Intercollegiate is one of the best fall tournaments out there. Historically, we have done well here, not to mention, these are the same courts, that Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom won their NCAA Doubles National Championship title on in 2007," head coach Jimmy Borendame said. "We are a very young team and I am looking forward to getting in lots of matches and using this weekend to improve. This tournament can give us some nationally ranked competition and provide us with a great measuring stick."

The 2010 Southern Intercollegiate Championship tournament features participants from 37 schools including Alabama, UAB, Central Florida, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Lipscomb, LSU, Miami, UNC Wilmington, South Alabama, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Winthrop. This is the 43rd annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships, and is the oldest fall college tennis tournament in America.

The field will be divided into three singles divisions and two doubles divisions, and there will be a champion from each division. There will be a maximum of two rounds of singles consolation for first round losers but no doubles consolation.

Live scoring is not available for the tournament but brackets, results and other information regarding the tournament will be on goblueraiders.com once they become available.

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