Blue Raiders sit at No. 34 in ITA Rankings

MURFREESBORO- Tenn. - Middle Tennessee's men's tennis team jumped 13 spots to No. 34, the highest ranking under head coach Jimmy Borendame, as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Tuesday.

The Blue Raiders (8-3) have faced several top-50 squads this year, and defeated UTSA last weekend before going down to the wire against then-No. 11 Mississippi State. MSU is ranked 10th in the latest rankings.

"We are excited to achieve such a high ranking and this is an indication that our program is doing the right things," Borendame said. "We have lots of work to do and need to focus on continuing to improve. We are still working on using the momentum of the match, our attitude, and being a team."

In individual rankings, Ben Davis moved up six spots to No. 92 after topping UTSA's Martin Ayala, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, and falling MSU's to Romaine Bogaerts in two sets. Bogaerts fell four spots to No. 23 in the latest release.

After the duo of Davis and Christoph Lang was ranked last week, ITA adjusted the rankings based on the current doubles pair of Davis and Victor Cornea, and placed them at No. 35.

MT's duo went 2-0 last weekend, defeating UTSA's Tyler Brown and Kolby Kilgo, 8-1 in No. 2 doubles and MSU's Jordan Angus and Malte Stropp, 8-4. Angus and Stropp were ranked 13th at the time, and now sit at No. 24.

"Davis and Cornea are a dangerous team that can do it all," Borendame said.  "They serve big, volley well, and return even better. Plus, they work well with one another. I look forward to see what they can do the rest of the spring."

The Blue Raiders will head to the HEB Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas this weekend, where they will compete with the likes of BYU, Louisiana, South Alabama, DePaul, Western Michigan, UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  They open at the Bouldin Tennis Center on March 6 against Morehead State.

"We hope the community, staff, and students will come out to support us in the upcoming home matches on campus starting on March 6th against Morehead State," Borendame said.

To view the complete rankings, click here.

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