Sept. 25, 2003

FORT WORTH, Texas

TCU men's tennis Head Coach Joey Rivé revealed his squad's 2003-04 schedule today. Six fall tournaments are on top for the Purple and White, followed by 21 regular season dual matches beginning in January. Thirteen of the squads the Horned Frogs will face competed in the NCAA Tournament last May and they could potentially play 16 teams that concluded 2003 ranked among the top-75.

"We have another great schedule," said Rivé, who is entering his fourth year as head coach of the Frogs. "We play quite a few teams at home to start the spring, which is fortunate for us. There will be a lot of tests for us throughout the season. We have some good opposition and I'm looking forward to a great season this year."

TCU kicks the fall off this weekend when split squads travel to Atlanta, Ga., and Waco, Texas, for the adidas Invitational and the Baylor Intercollegiate over Sept. 26-28. From there, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) will put on the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships, the first of three national events, from Oct. 3-12 at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. Rafael Abreu, Robert Gallman, Alex Menichini, Fabrizio Sestini and Jacopo Tezza will all compete in the tournament.

After making a stop in Midland, Texas, over Sept. 17-19 for the Midland Racquet Club Invitational, TCU will host one of nine ITA Regional Championships. The tournament is scheduled to begin Oct. 24 and will wrap up Oct. 27. The Purple and White finishes up its fall slate in November with the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station over Nov. 7-9.

Before its first dual match Jan. 24 versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Fort Worth, TCU will host an exhibition match with the University of Sterling (Scotland) the day before on the Bernard J. "Tut" Bartzen Varsity Courts at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center at 1:30 p.m. The Frogs' match-up with the Islanders is scheduled for a noon start time.

The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi match marks the first of nine consecutive home contests for TCU. During the span, TCU will face SMU (Feb. 4 at 1:30 p.m.), Texas-Arlington (Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m.), Colorado (Feb. 15 at noon), Texas A&M (Feb. 18 at 1:30 p.m.), Florida State (Feb. 22 at noon), South Alabama (Feb. 24 at 1:30 p.m.) and the Conference USA Shootout (Feb. 27-29).

The intraconference shootout is one of two such events featuring six of the 12 C-USA institutions that sponsor men's tennis. Tulane will serve as the host for the other half of the affair. The top two teams in each tournament receive first-round byes and each team is guaranteed to play a minimum of two matches. TCU and Louisville snagged the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds for the Horned Frogs' tourney, while Tulane and South Florida did likewise for the Green Wave's portion of the event. Other squads traveling to Cow Town include Charlotte, DePaul, East Carolina and Marquette. The schedule of play is as follows:

Friday, Feb. 27
Match 1: Charlotte vs. DePaul - Varsity Courts, 10:30 a.m.
Match 2: East Carolina vs. Marquette - Public Courts, 1:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28
Match 3: TCU vs. Charlotte/DePaul - Varsity Courts, 1:30 p.m.
Match 4: Louisville vs. East Carolina/Marquette - Varsity Courts, 10:30 a.m.
Match 5: Loser Match 1 vs. Loser Match 2 - Public Courts, 1:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 29
Match 6: Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4 - Varsity Courts, 1:30 p.m.
Match 7: Loser Match 3 vs. Loser Match 4 - Public Courts, 10:30 a.m.

Following a week of rest, the Frogs hit the road for their first away match, as they compete in the Arizona State Shootout over March 7-8. A schedule for the event will not be made available until the preseason team rankings are released in December or January. Other squads competing in the event include Arizona State, Pepperdine and Washington. The winners from each of the two March 7 matches will play the second day, while the losers will square off in the other contest.

TCU will head to Tulsa, Okla., March 13 to face the Golden Hurricane at 1 p.m. and then return home for a pair of matches with Miami (Fla.) and Boise State March 17 and 20 at 2 p.m. and noon. A Match 22 date with Texas Tech in Lubbock awaits the Frogs following the homestand before they host Rice March 25 at 2 p.m. The Horned Frogs then head south on I-35 to Waco to take on Baylor, who reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last season and finished with a national ranking of No. 4.

Four matches in April are on the ledger for the Purple and White, the first of which features Duke April 2 in Durham, N.C., at 3 p.m. Two days later, TCU makes a stop in Charlottesville, Va., to tangle with Virginia at 11 a.m. and then returns home to host Louisiana-Lafayette April 7 at 2 p.m. The regular season draws to a close in Dallas in the second meeting of the year with cross-town rival SMU April 10 at noon.

The University of Memphis will host the C-USA Tournament over April 15-18. The NCAA Regionals will be played from May 15-16 at selected campus locations that will be announced once the draw for the 64-team field has been determined. The University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center will host the NCAA Championships May 22-31. The championships include the final four rounds of the team competition and the 64-person and 32-team singles and doubles tournaments.