Abreu, Sestini Receive At-Large Bid to National Indoors
10/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 27, 2004
FORT WORTH, TexasRafael Abreu and Fabrizio Sestini received an at-large bid to the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, it was announced Wednesday. Abreu and Sestini are ranked No. 8 in the country and own a 9-3 record this fall. The indoors are the second of three national events and are being hosted by the University of Michigan over Nov. 4-7 in Ann Arbor. The selection marks the Horned Frog tandem's second straight appearance in the tournament.
Abreu and Sestini were hoping for an automatic bid by winning the ITA South Central Regional Championships Monday. They were pitted against Lars Poerschke and Matija Zgaga from Baylor and suffered an 8-3 defeat. TCU's No. 1 doubles team won the regional the year before by upending a different pair from Baylor.
"I was very pleased to see them selected," TCU head coach Joey Rivé said. "They deserve it, and I think they are the best team in the region. Hopefully, they'll get off to a strong start there and have some good results."
Last year, Abreu and Sestini drew Andrew Colombo and Gabor Zoltan Pelva, the No. 4-ranked team in the country from Auburn, and lost 8-4. TCU's team was unranked at the time. Abreu and Sestini went on to grab a win against Jose Luchuga and Nima Roshan from BYU in the consolation before Brown's Jamie Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin ended their stay.
TCU will be making consecutive appearances at the National Indoors for the first time since 1998 and 1999 when Esteban Carril competed in singles. The Frogs' longest streak of appearances was during a six-year stretch from 1994-1999. Former standout David Pate owns TCU's lone title at the event when he was crowned the 1982 champion after defeating famed Andre Agassi coach Brad Gilbert from Pepperdine in straight sets in the finals.
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