CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The 2016 fall singles season opens Friday as five Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis players head to the Houston Pro Futures Wild Card hosted by Rice.
Three Islander seniors will lead the contingent as
Kevin Bettendroffer,
Paul Cook and
Mitchell Cook are all set to take part in the three-day tournament. Also joining the veterans are highly-touted freshman Cagatay Soke and
Gonzalo Achondo who will see their first action as a member of the Blue and Green.
Both Soke and Achondo arrived on the Island having already earned ATP professional points.
"This has been a tremendously intense first week of practice and we are very excited to compete in our first event of the year," said Director of Tennis
Steve Moore. "We are fortunate to have a pro event only three hours away and this is a tremendous opportunity for our team to mature and grow. The top players all want to play these fall professional tournaments these days and I feel it's tremendously beneficial for us."
The Houston Pro Futures Wild Card is preliminary event for the 2016 USTA Houston Pro Futures tournament. The winner will earn a spot in the qualifying draw scheduled to begin October 10.
Last year, the Islanders had a pair of representatives in the main draw as former Islander Peter Nagy, now ranked No. 420 in the world, advanced to the quarterfinals while Bettendroffer grinded his way through the qualifiers, knocking off a former All-American, to receive a spot in the main draw as well.
Friday marks the beginning of a long journey for Islanders Tennis which is looking to reach the ITA National Rankings for the 11th consecutive season.
