Florida Gators
ITA All-American
Stiegwardt and Tell Move On At ITA All-Americans
Saturday, October 2, 2004 | Men's Tennis
University of Florida junior Stefan Tell and sophomore Martin Stiegwardt turned in solid efforts on Saturday at the 2004 Icy Hot/Men's All-American Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. The two began the day by both advancing in the singles draw before combing to pick up a pair of wins in the doubles draw.
Tell started with a win over Georgia Tech's Scott Blackmon in the singles prequalifying round of 64. It was the second consecutive straight set win for Tell in the draw as he posted a 6-3, 6-4 score. Tell moved on to face Dusan Tabak of UL-Lafayette on Sunday morning. Stiegwardt also won in straight sets with his victory over Ole Miss' Bram Ten Barge (6-3, 6-4). He will meet Auburn's Nick Lane in the round of 32 on Sunday. UF's Ryan Sherry was also in play on the singles courts, however, the redshirt junior came up short against Kentucky's Karim Ayali (6-1, 6-4).
Stiegwardt and Tell advanced to the round of 16 in the prequalifying doubles draw. They began the tournament with an 8-6 decision over Arizona State's Daniel Davies and Ryan McBride. In the late afternoon, the UF duo defeated Oklahoma's Lee Gregg and Marek Valicka by the same score. With the wins, Stiegwardt and Tell will face Kentucky's Matt Emery and Alex Hume on Sunday.
The Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships include 192-singles player and 96-doubles team prequalifying tournaments played October 1-3 which feed into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments October 4-6. The 64-player, 32-doubles team main draw takes place Oct. 7-10. The singles tournament fields can run over 350 players, making it the largest collegiate event of the season.
The Icy Hot/ ITA Men's All-American Championships offer the first national singles and doubles titles of the season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May. All told, 46 of the top 50 players in the preseason ITA singles rankings are competing in this year's main draw.
2004 Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships
Singles Prequalifying (Round of 64)
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Karim Ayali (UK) def. Ryan Sherry (UF); 6-1, 6-4
Stef Tell (UF) def Scott Blackmon (Georgia Tech), 6-3, 6-4
Martin Stiegwardt (UF) def. Bram Ten Barge (Ole Miss), 6-3, 6-4
Doubles Prequalifying (Round of 64)
Martin Stiegwardt/Stefan Tell (UF) def. Daniel Davies/Ryan McBride (Arizona State), 8-6
Doubles Prequalifying (Round of 32)
Martin Stiegwardt/Stefan Tell (UF) def. Lee Gregg/Marek Valicka (Oklahoma), 8-6
