Bowling Green State University Athletics
Men's Tennis Hosts BGSU/Keefe Invitational
September 20, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 20, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's tennis team begins the 2001-02 season this weekend, hosting the BGSU/Keefe Invitational. The three-day, eight-team event will run from Friday through Sunday (Sept. 21-23) at Keefe Courts on the BGSU campus. Admission is free.
Keefe Courts are located off Stadium Drive, directly east of (behind) the BGSU Ice Arena and west of the Cochrane Field soccer complex.
Sixth-year head coach Jay Harris and the Falcons will host a tourney field that includes Chicago State, Dayton, DePaul, Duquesne, IUPUI, Wright State and Xavier. Team scores will not be kept, but individual singles and doubles flight champions will be named.
The tournament is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. Friday and at 8:30 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday at Keefe, weather permitting.
Harris welcomes back a total of six letterwinners from last year's team. The 2000-01 squad went 19-10 overall, posting the school's most dual-match victories since the 1978-79 team went 20-5.
"This year's tournament has the most teams that we've ever had," said Harris. "And, it's the toughest group since I've been here at BGSU. With such a strong field, this tournament will be a good challenge for us.
"Right now, we are ready to start competing against some other people. We have been beating up on each other (in practice) for four weeks, so it will be exciting to compete against some other teams."
Among the returnees for Harris are a trio of seniors: Vitek Wild, Mike Kossoff and Ed Kuresman. Wild, after three years in the Brown and Orange, already is the winningest player in BGSU men's tennis history. His final victory of last season, a singles win in the semifinal round of the Mid-American Conference Championships, was the 143rd overall win of his Falcon tenure.
Wild is fourth in BGSU history with 78 singles wins, and he ranks sixth all-time with 66 doubles victories.
Juniors Peter Gardonyi, Geoff Hiscox and Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo also return to the squad. Hiscox, like Wild, was named to the All-MAC First Team last season.
Wild has earned all-league honors in each of his first three years, making the first team twice after earning second-team laurels as a freshman.
Hiscox has also been named to the All-MAC squad in each of his collegiate seasons, having earned second-team honors as a freshman.
Wild posted a singles record of 24-12 last season, including a 3-1 MAC mark and a 1-0 record in the league tournament. In doubles, he was 23-17, going 2-0 in the conference championships.
Hiscox went 24-9 in singles last season, including a 3-1 record in MAC dual play and a 1-0 mark in the league tourney. In doubles, he was a stellar 26-7, going 4-1 with the graduated Brandon Gabel in MAC play and 1-0 in the tournament.
Hiscox's total of 50 combined wins last year is the third highest in school history, and his doubles victory total of 26 was fourth on that seasonal list, falling just two shy of the school record.
Lopez-Acevedo was the MAC's Newcomer of the Year as a freshman in 1999-2000.
The six returnees are joined by a pair of newcomers in sophomore Joel Carney and freshman Ian Bliss. Carney helped St. Bonaventure University to the NCAA Tournament as a freshman last season.
The BGSU/Keefe Invitational marks the Falcons' lone home action of the fall season.
