FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brandon Feusner
Tel: 502-819-7784
Email: hstennischampionships@gmail.com
LOUISVILLE TO HOST PRESTIGIOUS BOYS DECOTURF
HIGH SCHOOL TENINS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
Twenty-Four of the Nation's Top Boys High School Tennis Teams to Compete in 7th Annual Event
March 20, 2013 – Louisville, KY – Twenty-four of the nation's top boys high school tennis teams will travel to Louisville, Kentucky this weekend to compete in the prestigious Boys DecoTurf High School Tennis Team Championships. The seventh annual national invitational tournament will take place on March 22nd and 23rd and feature nine defending state champions and three state finalists. The tournament will host teams from California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia.
The championships will be hosted in Louisville, KY. The event will feature 24 teams and nearly 250 players competing in nearly 400 matches in the two divisions over the weekend. The Boys A Division tournament will begin with first and quarterfinal rounds of play on Friday at E.P. Sawyer State Park, Top Gun Academy, Saint Xavier High School and Central Park. The tournament will resume of Saturday with semi-final and championship round matches at E.P. Sawyer State Park and Top Gun Academy. The Boys A Division features 16 teams that will compete in the non-elimination tournament with each team guaranteed four matches.
For the first time since 2010 a new champion will be crowned as back-to-back champion New Trier (Winnetka, IL) is not competing in the event this year. The top half of the bracket will feature host school Saint Xaiver (Louisville, KY), the 2010 tournament champion, who returns a strong-lineup from their 2012 State Championship team including defending singles State Champion and Alabama signee Sean Donohue. The Tigers also return 2012 doubles state semi-finalists Brandon Lancasterr, Zachary Kuo and Parker Thieneman. Saint Xavier could face a second round matchup with defending Tennessee Division II Class AA State Runner-Up, Memphis University School, who returns a pair of past Singles State Champions in Penn commit Marshall Sharp and Tennessee's top ranked junior Walker Sims. Also in the top half of the bracket is 2012 tournament finalist Barron Collier who returns three players that helped the Cougars reach the finals last year including Paul Johnson, Alan Sweet and 2012 DecoTurf All-Tournament Team member Jorge Vargas.
The bottom half of the bracket is led by Hinsdale Central (Hinsdale, IL) who defeated 2012 tournament champion New Trier to last year's Illinois State Championship. The Red Devils, who are making their second appearance in the event, are led by a trio of players ranked in the top 60 in the country in the sophomore class including blue-chip recruit Martin Joyce, and 5-star recruits Michael Lorenzini and Eddie Grabill. Hinsdale Central's top competition in the bottom bracket will include defending Florida Class AA State Runner-Up, Gulliver Prep, who return the two of the top 3 ranked recruits in the southeast in Chase Perez-Blanco, defending state runner-up at #1 singles and state champion at #1 doubles and Baker Newman, who won a state championship at #2 singles and paired with Perez-Blanco for the #1 doubles state championship.
Other top players competing in the Boys A Division include LSU signee Hobie Hotard (Jesuit), Georgetown commit Jordan Portner (Mount St Joseph) and Middle Tennessee State signee Aaron Jumonville (Montgomery Bell Academy).
BOYS A DIVISION
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
Barron Collier (Naples, FL) vs. Baylor (Chattanooga, TN)
Deerfield (Deerfield, IL) vs. Davis (Davis, CA)
Saint Xavier (Louisville, KY) vs. Henry Clay (Lexington, KY)
Trinity (Louisville, KY) vs. Memphis University School (Memphis, TN)
Gulliver Prep (Pinecrest, FL) vs. Jesuit (New Orleans, LA)
Montgomery Bell Academy (Nashville, TN) vs. Ocean Springs (Ocean Springs, MS)
Mount St Joseph (Baltimore, MD) vs. Winter Park (Winter Park, FL)
McCallie (Chattanooga, TN) vs. Hinsdale Central (Hinsdale, IL)
The Boys B Divsion tournament will begin with first round and consolation semi-final play on Friday at Saint Xavier High School, Top Gun Academy and Central Park. The tournament continue on Saturday with semi-final and championship round matches at Saint Xavier High School. The Boys B Division features 8 teams that will compete in the non-elimnation tournament with each team guarenteed three matches. The field will include defending West Virgnia Class A-AA State Champion Charleston Catholic (Charleston, WV), 2012 Oklahoma Class 6A State Runner-Up Jenks (Jenks, OK), and 2012 Georgia Class AAA State Champion Woodward Academy. Some of Kentucky's top ranked teams including 5th ranked DuPont Manual (Louisville, KY) and 6th ranked Covington Catholic (Covington, KY) and South Oldham (Crestwood, KY) will compete for the B Division title.
The DecoTurf High School Tennis Team Championships is an national high school invitational held annually in Louisville, KY. The tournament in its 7th year has hosted more than 250 high school teams and more than 2,500 student-athletes. The tournament has hosted 38 team State Champions, 34 individual State Champions,14 National High School All Americans and 68 NCAA Division I signees. For more information on the tournament visit www.hstennischampionships.com.
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If you would like more information or to schedule an interview with Tournament Director Brandon Feusner, please contact him at hstennischampionships@gmail.com or 502- 819-7784.