The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Team At Seminole Invitational This Weekend
9/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 29, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team will be in Tallahassee, Fla. this weekend as the Blazers are one of nine squads participating in the Seminole Invitational, hosted by Florida State University.
The other teams playing in the three-day event are the host Seminoles, North Florida, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Florida A&M, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida A&M and Jacksonville.
UAB opened its 2011 fall schedule last weekend at the Dale Short Shootout in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Blazers got off to a slow start at the tournament hosted by Middle Tennessee, losing all six singles matches Friday to Conference USA foe Memphis.
But UAB bounced back with solid performances against both the host Blue Raiders and Southern Illinois the next two days as the Blazers won a combined 10 of 14 singles matches.
"We came out last weekend and played a little nervous and tentative the first day which was surprising," said UAB head coach Derek Tarr. "But I thought we responded well against Middle Tennessee and SIU and played a lot better tennis."
UAB will have six players entered in the Seminole Invitational with four in the "A" Division draw and two others in the "B" draw.
In opening round matches Friday in the "A" draw, UAB senior Danny Manlow will meet Southern Miss' Andrew Goodwin, sophomore Chris Helliar takes on Marc Misanovic of Bethune-Cookman.
Also playing a first round "A" draw match Friday will be Blazer junior David Zimmerman who goes against UNF's Julian Belair while Daniel Moser plays Bethune-Cookman's Santiago Lobelo. Zimmerman is the No. 4 seed in the "A" draw field. Leonardo Nahar of North Florida is the top seed.
In the "B" draw, UAB sophomore Lucas Dirube has a first round bye as does teammate James Gardner.
The Blazers will have three doubles teams competing this weekend. Moser and Zimmerman will form one UAB duo while Manlow and Helliar will compete as a tandem. Dirube and Gardner will play as the Blazers' other doubles entry.
The tournament will begin Friday at 8:30 a.m. and run through Sunday at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
