Mississippi State
Duke Bonk Invitational
MSU Men’s Tennis Resumes Fall Play Friday In Wisconsin, North Carolina
September 19, 2019 | Men's Tennis
by Graham Murphree, Student Assistant/Communications
STARKVILLE - The time has come for four more Bulldogs to kick the dust off their tournament shoes and bags and begin their fall season campaign by representing Mississippi State in tennis action this weekend.
A pair of Bulldogs will start their 2019 fall competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the 44th Milwaukee Tennis Classic: Giovanni Oradini and Nicolas Ocana.
The tournament, which runs from Sept. 20-23 at the Western Racquet Club, is a double-elimination tournament featuring top-level collegiate talent. The winner of the singles draw will earn a wildcard entry into the ITA's Fall National Championships.
The senior All-American Oradini, currently ranked 24th nationally, received the No. 2 seed in the tournament. He will face William Kirkman of Arizona State Friday no earlier than 9:30 a.m. CT. At the same time, the true freshman Ocana will take the court for his first match on the collegiate level. He will take court against the tournament's top seed in Illinois' 79th-ranked Zeke Clark.
The tournament will also feature a doubles draw. Ocana and Oradini, the No. 7 seed this weekend, will open play at 8 a.m. CT Friday, battling Wisconsin's tandem of Lenard Soha and Jared Pratt.
In addition to the State pair in Wisconsin, another rookie/veteran duo will be opening their fall slates 901 miles away in Cary, North Carolina, at the Duke Bonk Invitational. 2018 ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year Florian Broska and Bulldog freshman Davide Tortora will compete in the three-day event, being held at Cary Tennis Park.
Broska and Tortora will open weekend action as the No. 1 seed in the Black draw (while playing doubles together for the first time ever), where they will take on Cole Brainard and Collin Thomson of UNC Charlotte at 9 a.m. ET Friday morning. A second round of doubles will follow at 10 a.m.
In singles, the true freshman Tortora opens as the top seed in the White draw. There he will face Virginia Tech's Brandon Perez at 2 p.m. ET Friday afternoon.
Broska will compete in the Blue draw. He will also see his first singles competition at 2 p.m. Friday, meeting Chase Burton of Liberty.
Up Next for MSU…
After returning from the two tournaments this weekend, the Bulldogs will prepare for one of the biggest and top tier tournaments of the year—the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma featuring some of the best student athletes in the nation. The bulldogs will also prepare for the Georgia Tech Invite in Atlanta, Georgia.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
