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June 6, 2008

The University of Louisville men's tennis team will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to play Drake in the 2009 ITA "Kick-Off" Weekend on January 31 at 10 a.m. The Cardinals are the No. 2 seed in the Tennessee Regional with the host Vols as the top seed and Harvard as the No. 4 seed. The field was set on June 5 with 60 teams participating in a draft to determine their sites and opponents.

"This first time ever national qualifying tournament for the 15 spots in the National Team Indoor Championships was a fun experience to have," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "To be selected as a participant and choose your spot in the regional draw was pretty dramatic, since we were watching other teams pick their spots in other regionals. I have never experienced anything like that before. It was like an NBA draft and NCAA Tournament Selections show at the same time!

The inaugural tournament will be held Jan. 30-Feb. 1 and will consist of 60 teams featuring 15 selected sites hosting four teams. First round winners and losers face each other in the second round. The 15 teams that win both matches advance to ITA National Team Indoor Championships, played two weeks later, Feb. 13-16.

"We are excited to open play against Drake, who has won three straight Missouri Valley Conference Championships," said Ecarma. "If we advance, we will play the winner of Tennessee and Harvard. We have played quite a few times in Tennessee and upset a highly ranked Volunteer team in 2003. We also lost a hard-fought match to them this past season. This overall tournament will pit 99% of the best tennis programs in the country against each other which will produce some great tennis."

The Cards completed the 2008 season with a 17-8 overall record, finished fourth in the conference and was No. 48 in the final ITA team rankings released on May 23.