Spartan Men's Tennis Set For First Alumni Match On Monday, Sept. 21
9/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 16, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - It may actually be the most intriguing matchup on the USC Upstate men's tennis team's whole 2009-10 schedule.
On Monday night, under the lights, Upstate's men will face off in a match that has all the makings of a true epic when, for the first time in school history, they will face off against a team comprised of Spartan alumni. The alumni match, set for 7:30 p.m., will feature four All-A-Sun selections on the Spartans side. On the alumni side will be the tennis program's all-time winningest coach, a player that reached an ATP ranking of 212, the first All-A-Sun selection in school history and a Division II All-American.
The match will be played much like a USTA League match, with it being a three-point match, with two doubles matches and one singles match if necessary. The Spartans will ride on the wings of its All-A-Sun doubles teams of seniors Javier Tori and Renzo Airaldi and sophomore Edgar Rodriguez. In the spring, Tori and Airaldi posted a 19-3 overall record, including a 13-3 mark at the No. 1 position. Rodriguez, the 2009 A-Sun Freshman of the Year, earned First Team All-A-Sun honors after going 17-8 overall in singles play.
On the other side of the net, head coach Alessandro De Marzo will look to captain the Spartan alumni to another team tennis win, something he has been very successful at in the last two years. De Marzo, along with former Spartan Division II All-Americans Stefan Dumitrescu and Jose Luis Reyes, has won two straight Team Tennis titles at the USTA Southern Sectionals, the world's largest tennis tournament.
On Monday, De Marzo and Reyes, along with current student assistant coach Julio Peralta and 2009 graduate Sandy Franz will use the match against Upstate as a warm-up for the USTA National Open Division Team Championships, which will be held in Las Vegas, Nev., from Sept. 25-27.
Reyes earned ITA Division II All-American honors as a singles player in 2003. He posted a career combined record of 108-32, graduating in 2007 as the school-record holder in doubles wins with 63.
Peralta retired from the ATP Tour after five seasons, having reached a peak ranking of 212 in December of 2003. The Chilean, who is in his second season as an assistant at Upstate, is currently working on his degree in business administration at the George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics at Upstate.
Franz, who earned two all-conference honors during his career, will play with De Marzo in doubles play. The 6-6 German was the first player at Upstate to earn a D-I national ranking and the first to earn All-Atlantic Sun Conference honors, earning first team honors as a junior.
The men's tennis team will also have a busy weekend, heading to the Southern Intercollegiates at the University of Georgia for a four-day tournament that begins Friday.
