Former Spartans Will Look For National Title At USTA National Team Championships
9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 24, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate tennis teams' head coach Alessandro De Marzo will make his second straight appearance at the USTA National Team Championships and he will bring along two others with ties to the program when the championships begin on Friday at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
Competing at the 20-team tournament and representing both the USTA Southern section and the USTA South Carolina section, De Marzo will captain a squad that features current student assistant coach and former ATP professional Julio Peralta and 2008 All-A-Sun selection Sandy Franz along with USC Aiken graduates Edward Horne and Nicolas Lombardo.
De Marzo led his team to a second consecutive USTA Southern Sectionals title, competing in the Open Division alongside former Spartans Stefan Dumitrescu '09 and Franz, on Aug. 2, 2009. In 2008, he led his team to a Southern Sectionals title in the 5.5 classification, the highest classification besides Open, with help from former Spartans Dumitrescu and Jose Luis Reyes '07.
The team will play in a five-team round robin on Friday and Saturday, with the group playing two matches each day. The winner of the round robin will advance to the semifinals on Sunday, with the finals also taking place on Sunday. Each match will use a best-of-three-point format with two best-of-three-set doubles matches and one best-of-three-set singles match.
The men's tennis team will get a rare fall weekend off before heading to Tulsa, Okla., for the D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships, starting with pre-qualifying play on Oct. 2. The women's tennis team will next hit the courts on Oct. 8 at the University of North Florida Tournament.
