USF Spring Break Bracket TAMPA, Fla. – A loaded tournament field awaits No. 52 University of North Florida men's tennis at this weekend's three-day USF Spring Break Invitational that begins on Friday at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. Including UNF, six of the eight teams participating in this weekend's tournament are listed in the Top 75 of the ITA Team Rankings.
"This will be a challenging weekend with the chance to go up against some of the nation's top teams," said head coach
Mark Finnegan. "We know what opportunities are ahead of us and are looking forward to playing some great tennis."
On UNF's side of the bracket, the Ospreys have No. 20 USF and No. 63 Tulane. The other bracket consists of No. 25 Drake, No. 48 Penn State and No. 73 VCU. Also competing are Furman and UNC Wilmington.
UNF has not been on the road since January when the Ospreys played in two tournaments. The Ospreys went 2-1 at both the Seminole Invitational (Jan. 10-11) and the Tennessee Spring Invitational (Jan. 16-18). During its previous two tournaments, UNF claimed victories over nationally-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette, St. John's and ETSU and also posted three shutouts. Both Louisiana-Lafayette and ETSU were among the Ospreys' shutout wins.
UNF enters the weekend with a 10-2 record and rides a seven-match winning streak that dates back to a 4-0 win against Southern Illinois on Jan. 18 at the Tennessee Spring Invitational. Most recently, UNF comes off a 4-0 triumph against East Carolina last Sunday.
In addition to the Team Rankings, the Ospreys have garnered national attention in the ITA Singles Rankings and Doubles Rankings.
Jack Findel-Hawkins enters the weekend as the No. 94 singles player. Findel-Hawkins and
Norbert Nemcsek made their reappearance in the doubles poll, coming in at No. 68.
The Ospreys will have the opportunity to face several nationally-ranked singles and doubles competition. Tulane's Dominik Koepfer has this weekend's highest singles ranking at No. 13. USF's Roberto Cid, who Findel-Hawkins defeated in the fall for the Bedford Cup Singles Championship, comes into the weekend at No. 21. Meanwhile, Drake has the No. 38 singles player in Ben Lott and the No. 42 singles player in Alen Salibasic.
In addition to Findel-Hawkins and Nemcsek, there are three other doubles duos that enter the weekend ranked. USF also has two ranked doubles pairs in Cid and Sasha Gozun (No. 15) and Oliver Pramming and Justin Roberts (No. 37). Penn State's Leonard Stakhovsky and Aws Laaribi are listed at No. 75.
UNF begins the tournament against Tulane at 3 p.m., on Friday. Winner of that match advances to the Saturday's semifinals against the winner of USF/Furman. Loser of Friday's match will play the loser of USF/Furman in Saturday's consolation semifinals. Play concludes on Sunday.
