Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Men Open Season At Butler Invite
January 03, 2000 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 13, 1999
THIS WEEK: The Bowling Green State University men's tennis team will begin the 1999-2000 season by heading to Indianapolis, Ind., to compete in the Butler Invitational this Friday through Sunday (Sept. 17-19). Among the teams scheduled to compete are Evansville, Indiana State, IUPUI and Marquette, in addition to BGSU and the host school.
This weekend's action marks the first of four fall tournaments for the Falcons of fourth-year head coach Jay Harris. The fall slate will culminate Nov. 5-8 with the ITA Rolex Regionals in Madison, Wis.
Harris welcomes four freshmen to his squad, and welcomes back six letterwinners from the 1998-99 squad. That team finished fourth in both the Mid-American Conference regular-season standings and at the MAC Championships. BGSU recorded a 12-13 overall dual mark last year, going 4-3 during league regular-season play.
The Falcon roster features just one senior, two juniors and three sophomores, along with the four frosh. Co-captains Sonny Huynh, the lone senior, and junior Brandon Gabel return to lead the BG squad. Other returnees include junior Ben Ashford and sophomores Mike Kossoff, Ed Kuresman and Vitek Wild.
Wild returns after a freshman season which saw him break the school record for singles wins. Competing primarily at the second flight, Wild had a 32-11 singles mark. Kossoff posted 25 singles wins, the third-best Falcon total of all time.
Both Kossoff and Wild were involved in 23 doubles wins last season, tying them for sixth on that BGSU list.
Wild, who had a personal winning streak of 18 matches halted in the final week of the regular season, set the school record with 55 combined wins in 1998-99. Kossoff ranks third on that list with 48 combined wins last season.
The Falcon freshmen include a pair of Canada natives, Peter Gardonyi and Geoff Hiscox, as well as twins Micael and Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo. The brothers hail from Guayrabo, Puerto Rico.
Radu Bartan, who ended his collegiate playing career last spring, begins his first season as a volunteer assistant coach. Bartan, with 142 combined wins, is the BGSU career leader in that category. Bartan was named to the All-MAC First Team last year, while Wild received conference second-team honors.
FINAL 1998-99 MAC REGULAR-SEASON STANDINGS: 1-Ball State (7-0), 2-Miami (6-1), 3-Western Michigan (5-2), 4-Bowling Green (4-3), 5-Northern Illinois (3-4), 6-Toledo (2-5), 7-Eastern Michigan (1-6), 8-Buffalo (0-7).
FINAL 1999 MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS: 1-Western Michigan, 2-Ball State, 3-Miami, 4-Bowling Green, 5-Northern Illinois, 6-Toledo, 7-Eastern Michigan, 8-Buffalo.
1999 FALL SCHEDULE:September 17-19 at Butler Invitational (Indianapolis, Ind.) 25 BGSU PRO-AM (Keefe Courts)
October 1-3 BGSU/KEEFE INVITATIONAL (Keefe Courts) 15-17 Kentucky Invitational (Lexington, Ky.) 22-24 Rocket Indoor Tournament (Laurel Hill, Toledo, Ohio)
November 5-8 ITA Rolex Regionals (Madison, Wis.) Home matches in CAPS FALCON QUICK FACTS
FINAL 1998-99 RECORDS Overall: 12-13 Mid-American Conference: 4-3 (Fourth) MAC Championships Finish: Fourth of 8
HEAD COACH - Jay Harris Alma Mater: Cincinnati, 1993 Year at BGSU: Fourth Record at BGSU: 37-33 Year as a head coach: Fourth Overall Career Record: 37-33
VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT - Radu Bartan first year
