Oct. 5, 2004
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The Old Dominion men's tennis doubles team of senior Izak van der Merwe (Kempton Park, South Africa) and sophomore Nate Grover (Suffolk, Va.) will vie for a spot in the main draw of the 2004 Icy Hot ITA All-American Championships tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. The duo, ranked fourth in the qualifying bracket, need to defeat Hubert Chodkiewicz and Roger Cubser of Texas to become one of eight doubles teams to reach to 32-team main draw.
The Icy Hot ITA All-American Championship is not only the largest single tournament in collegiate tennis, with over 350 competitors, but also the first of three national championship events during the 2004-05 season at the NCAA Division I level.
Van der Merwe and Grover, ranked 26th in the ITA Preseason Poll released in mid-September, opened play with an 8-4 victory over Tejeshwara Chigateri and Federico Ueltschi of Montana State and advanced to the round of 16 with a 8-5 win over Drew Eberly and Dennis Mertens of Ohio State.