Hogs look to end drought at National Indoors

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It’s been four years since the team’s last appearance, but this weekend, Razorbacks Blake Strode and Matt Hogan will take the court against some of the best collegiate tennis players in the nation at the 2008 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va., beginning Thursday.Strode, the No.41-ranked player in the country, qualified for National Indoors by reaching the quarterfinals of the D’Novo/ITA Men’s All-American Tennis Championships in October, and teammate Hogan, ranked 125, secured his spot by advancing to the finals in the Wilson/ITA Central Region Championships held last month in Fayetteville. Arkansas success at National Indoors has been staggered for the men; the Hogs last competed at National Indoors in 2004 when then-No.10 Adrians Zguns and Rohan Gajjar played in the singles tournament and teammates Matt Roberts and Imraan Ismail represented Arkansas in doubles. Oskar Johansson had the most recent success for the Razorbacks, losing in the 2001 final match to Alex Kim of Stanford, and the last National Indoor Champion from Arkansas was crowned in 1986 when the unseeded Joey Blake rebounded to beat Stanford 2-seed, Dan Goldie, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.

On Thursday, Strode and Hogan will begin their campaigns for the singles championship title when play gets under way at 9 a.m. For updated results from the tournament and complete coverage of the Arkansas Razorbacks men’s tennis team, log onto ArkansasRazorbacks.com.