Two players on the Arizona men's tennis team have been selected to play in this year's National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., beginning today.
Senior Roger Matalonga and sophomore Bruno Alcala will compete in both singles and doubles play at the first major invitational tournament of the season, which runs today through Sunday.
"This is a huge accomplishment for these guys," said assistant coach Cory Hubbard.
The winner of this tournament, known as "the Wimbledon of college tennis" according to an Arizona Athletics press release, will get the chance to play in an Association of Tennis Professionals event in California.
"There is a lot at stake with this tournament," Hubbard said.
The tournament is composed of the top six men's and women's tennis teams. Although the Wildcats rank No. 55 in the preseason standings, highly ranked individuals from the final 2005 and preseason 2006 Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings were also invited to compete.
Matalonga is currently ranked No. 18 while Alcala is unranked.
Last year Matalonga lost in the final round of the tournament. Alcala will compete in this event for the first time.
Although Arizona is not highly ranked, having these two players invited to the tournament shows much about where the program is going, Hubbard said.
He also said it shows that the program is getting recognition throughout the country.
"It will be a preview for the upcoming year because we will be facing some of these ranked teams during the season," Hubbard said.
Information taken from www.arizonaathletics.com