Men's Tennis hits the road for two top-40 matches

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - No. 43 Middle Tennessee will travel to Chicago, Ill., and Raleigh, N.C., to battle No. 33 Northwestern and No. 34 North Carolina State this weekend and early next week.

MT will face NU on Sunday, Feb. 17, and NCST on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

"We have two great opportunities on the road this week," head coach Jimmy Borendame said. "Both teams are ranked in the top-40, and doubles will be critical in both matches.

Northwestern's doubles pair of Sidarth Balaji and Raleigh Smith defeated Duke's No. 39 ranked Jason Tahir and Michael Redlicki. MT's Victor Cornea and Yannick Born fell to Tahir/Redlicki earlier this season.

NU is led by Smith and No. 108 Spencer Wolf, while MT will likely counter with Flight 1 and 2 lineups of No. 98 Ben Davis and Victor Cornea, respectively.

"Returning to my hometown of Chicago will be exciting," Borendame said. "We should have a pretty good crowd at the match, so I'm excited to see what the team can do."

Against NCST, the Blue Raiders will need to prepare for the 41st ranked doubles team of Dave Thomson and Sean Weber, while Austin Powell (No. 125) is the lone ranked Wolfpack singles competitor.

Updated Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings (Feb. 12 - MT only)

Singles
No. 98 Ben Davis (Previously No. 101)

Doubles
No. 57 Christoph Lang and Ben Davis (Previously unranked)

Coach Comment
"This is the first time since I've been here that Middle Tennessee has been represented in all three rankings (team, singles and doubles)," Borendame said.  "It is definitely an exciting time for our Blue Raider tennis squad."

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