University of San Francisco Men's Tennis, Tu Earn National Attention

The Dons and senior Tommy Tu earn national and regional rankings


Jan. 6, 2009


(San Francisco, Calif.) The USF men's tennis team and senior Tommy Tu have earned rankings in the current Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional and national rankings that were released Tuesday.

"We are pleased to get some form of credibility from the ranking committees," said 12th year head coach Peter Bartlett. "But our main focus will be preparing our athletes for the start of the season and continue as in the past to try and achieve the credibility with our results on the court. Our main focus and goal aside for WCC play will be attempting to make the NCAA's. Our schedule this season will be one of the toughest ever with competitions against five of the seven Pac-10 teams."

The Dons are ranked 67th nationally as a team, marking the first time in the modern era (post-1973) that USF has opened a season nationally ranked. San Francisco is one of four West Coast Conference teams ranked in the top-75. Joining USF is Saint Mary's, San Diego and Pepperdine.

Tu enters the 2009 spring season ranked 21st in the West Region. Tu, who played No. 1 singles for the Dons a year ago, becomes the just the fourth USF player to receive a regional rank in 29 years.

The Dons will open the 2009 spring season Saturday, Jan 17 at Noon against Portland at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Wash. The following day, Jan. 18, USF will face No. 34 Washington at Noon.