Spartan Men Head To Prestigous Southern Intercollegiates
9/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 17, 2008
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate men's and women's tennis teams will get into the full swing of the fall tournament season this weekend after the season-opening USC Upstate Fall Tournament featured an abbreviated contingent of Spartans. The Spartan men will be split between two tournaments this weekend with juniors Renzo Airaldi, Jack Roux and Javier Tori heading to the prestigous Southern Intercollegiate Championships while others will compete at the ETSU Fall Challenge, another large tournament hosted by an Atlantic Sun foe. The women, meanwhile, will head to the ETSU Fall Challenge, a tournament that featured 13 singles and six doubles brackets in 2007. It will be the first time the Spartans will visit ETSU for the tournament and the second straight year the men have gone to the Southern Intercollegiates.
2007 Southern Intercollegiates Recap: Three USC Upstate Spartans advanced to the round of 32 in the singles brackets and both doubles groups won a match during their first trip to the prestigous tournament. In the Division II bracket, the team of Jack Roux and Javier Tori fell in the round of 32 to Vanderbilt's Scott Liberman and Alex Zotov, 9-7. Tori, who also reached the round of 32 in the Division I bracket with a three-set win, fell to Duke's Kiril Dimitrov, 6-1, 6-0. Airaldi reached the round of 32 in the Division II bracket.
Super-Novo
Senior Anna Novo enters the week looking to get a few steps closer to the top of the school's record book. Curently with 66 career singles wins, Novo is just seven wins behind Diana Martinez for the school record. Martinez won 73 matches from 2004-08 playing anywhere from No. 3 to No. 5 singles. Novo has started every match in her career at Upstate in the No. 1 singles slot. Novo, with 118 career combined wins (66 singles, 52 doubles), is closing in on Susana Hernadez, who posted 125 career combined wins from 2004-08, for second in school history.
Another First
After earning the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year honors and winning a school-record 29 matches in 2007-08, senior Anna Novo was rewarded for her efforts once again by becoming the first woman Spartan in the Division I era to earn an ITA ranking. She is currently ranked 124th in the ITA singles preseason rankings. Current student assistant coach Sandy Franz was the first Spartan to earn an ITA Division I ranking, beginning the 2008 spring season ranked 96th on the men's side.
Viva, Vive
Senior Vivian Neuenschwander became the 10th player in school history to reach 70 combined wins at the USC Upstate Fall Tournament, thanks to two singles wins in the `B' bracket. Neuenschwander also became the ninth player in school history to cross 40 wins at the tournament and now has 41 careeer singles wins and 29 doubles wins.
Sophomore Successes
All three players who are headed to the Southern Intercollegiates this weekend had prolific seasons as sophomores for USC Upstate in 2008. Renzo Airaldi won 44 combined matches, which is second in school history, and won 26 singles matches, which is also second best in school history. Javier Tori finished with 42 combined wins, tied for third best in school history, adding 20 singles and 22 doubles wins, which are also in the top 10 in school annals. Jack Roux added 38 combined wins, which is ninth best in school history, winning 20 in doubles and 18 in singles.
Tori's Times Two
Junior Javier Tori has had the most productive two-year stretch in doubles play in school history, as he became the only player in school annals to win 20 doubles matches in back-to-back seasons in 2006-07 and 2007-08. As a freshman, Tori won 21 matches, playing promarily at the No. 1 slot with Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso. As a sophomore, Tori won 22 matches, playing mainly with Renzo Airaldi and Jack Roux at the No. 2 position.
It's Always Better To Share
Senior Leandro Osorio has also left his mark in the doubles record book. With 79 career combined wins, he is just one win away from becoming the 11th player in school history to reach 80 career wins. Osorio , with 51 career doubles wins, is currently fourth in the career record book, sitting behind only Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso (54), Jose Luis Reyes (63) and Stefan Dumitrescu (72) in the career list.
