Wake Forest Athletics
Three Deacons Ranked In Preseason Poll
1/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 14, 2003
The Omni Hotels Collegiate Men's Tennis Rankings were released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Monday and three Wake Forest players were listed among the top 125 singles players in the nation. Junior David Loewenthal is tied for 35th and seniors Mike Murray and Trent Brendon are ranked 109th and 123rd respectively.
Twenty-seven players from teams that 23rd-ranked Wake Forest will face this season are ranked, plus 14 doubles pairs on opponent teams.
Loewenthal slips from 28th to 35th despite going 14-6 in singles play this fall. An All-ACC selection last season, Loewenthal finished the year with a 31-14 singles record and automatically qualified individually for the NCAA Singles Championship. He is ranked fourth in the region's singles rankings and 15th in doubles with Brendon.
Murray enters the national rankings after putting together a sparkling record of 16-6 this fall. He won three singles matches to qualify for the main draw of the Regional Championships and then won three more to advance to the quarterfinals, including an upset over then-ranked No. 37 Angelo Niculescu from South Carolina. Murray also won his singles flight at Southeastern Collegiate Invitational with four straight victories. He is the 15th ranked singles player in the Mideast Region.
Brendon cracked the top 125 after a victorious fall, in which he erupted for 16 singles wins. A singles finalist at the North Carolina Kickoff Classic, the Virginia Invitational and the Southeastern Collegiate Invitational, Brendon won three straight matches in qualifying play at the Regional Championships to advance to the singles main draw. An All-ACC selection last season, Brendon finished the year with a 28-11 singles record and a 27-10 doubles mark with partner Loewenthal. The Demon Deacon duo was ranked as high as 27th in the nation and is now 15th in the region.
The complete list of the rankings is available at itatennis.com.
