DRAWS

MOUNT UPDATE: The 2013 fall season gets underway for the Mount men's tennis team with the Mount St. Mary's Invitational, a three-day home event Sept. 13-15. The Mount returns eight letterwinners from last year's team, which finished in the Northeast Conference Semifinals.  

INVITATIONAL DETAILS: This year's field for the Mount St. Mary's Invitational will include competitors from Bucknell, Coppin State, Dickinson, Loyola (Md.) and the Mount. There will be two flights of doubles rounds as well as five flights of singles competition. Action will take place at the Mount Tennis Courts as well as Catoctin High School beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Friday and 9:30 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. 

AT LAST YEAR'S EVENT: It was a great weekend for the Blake family at the 2012 Mount St. Mary's Invitational with Matt and Austin Blake both capturing individual titles. Matt Blake took down Loyola's Connor Pietrak, Morgan State's Eric Ward and Bucknell's Octavio Canibe in straight sets on his way to a Flight A championship. In Flight C, Mount players Austin Blake and Taylor Place made the finals before Austin Blake came away a straight-set winner. Adam Salam also won the consolation round for Flight A singles.

OLD WITH THE NEW:  Half of the Mount's starters from last year's 15-7 team are back including Adam Salam (No. 2), Austin Blake (No. 4) and Mike Zabetakis (No. 5). Coach Phil Hammond's challenge will be finding replacements for the other three starters with the graduation of Matt Blake (No. 1), Mike Salomon (No. 3) and Taylor Place (No. 6).

SIX NEWCOMERS: Five freshmen and one transfer student joined the Mount men's tennis team this fall. Maryland natives Chandler Costello, Michael Lake and Matt Zabetakis as well as Louis Tonon from North Carolina and Darren Mast from Pennsylvania are currently in their freshman campaigns. Peter Salomon, who transferred to the Mount from Marion Military Institute, has three years of eligibility remaining.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Phil Hammond is entering his 10th season at the helm for the Mount. In his first nine seasons, Hammond has built both the men's and women's programs into perennial contenders in the Northeast Conference. On the women's side, Hammond's coaching record is 117-83, while putting together an 88-103 mark with the men's team.

UP NEXT: The Mountaineers will head south to take part in the George Mason Invitational on Sept. 20-21 in Fairfax, Va.