DURHAM, N.C. – With his team having reported this week, Ramsey Smith announced the fall schedule for his 2015 men's tennis squad. The slate includes six weekends of action and seven tournaments, beginning September 18-20.
The Blue Devils open their fall season by hosting the Duke Bonk Invitational, named after Dr. James Bonk, a former Duke chemistry professor and assistant tennis coach. The event will be at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C., September 18-20. This is the first year the event is named after Dr. Bonk.
That same weekend, sophomore Nicolas Alvarez will travel to Malibu, Calif., to take part in the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters. The tournament will host 16 elite men's and women's singles players, along with eight of the most outstanding men's and women's doubles teams, with consolation action for each of the four events.
Duke will have a weekend off before heading to Tulsa, Okla., to play in its first Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) competition of the year. The ITA All-American Prequalifying and Qualifying rounds will be October 3-7, followed by the ITA All-American Main Draw October 8-11.
The Blue Devils then return to North Carolina, playing in the ITA Regional Qualifier in Cary October 16-20. Last fall 2015 graduate and current volunteer coach Jason Tahir reached the finals of the singles competition, helping him earn a wild card bid to the ITA National Indoors.
The team will take the following weekend off before ending fall competition in North Carolina in Winston-Salem for the Wake Forest Invitational November 6-8.
This year's ITA National Indoors completes the fall slate as the event returns to Flushing, N.Y., November 12-15.
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