The University of Minnesota men's tennis team's three representatives in the singles qualifying draw of the 2004 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., went 1-4 today and failed to advance to the main draw. Brian Lipinski lost in the final round of qualifying, while Nic Edlefsen and Chi Pham fell in the round of 32.

Lipinski, the draw's No. 7 seed, opened the day's action with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Ben Durham-Freer, but fell to No. 10 seed Andrew Roth of Notre Dame, 7-6 (1), 6-2). Edlefsen lost his round of 32 match to No. 1 seed Octavian Nicodim of Louisville, 6-3, 6-2, while Pham lost 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 to No. 3 seed Tim Bradshaw of Western Michigan.

Minnesota has already qualified three players into the main draw of singles for the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. Matches in the singles main draw begin Saturday. Senior captain Avery Ticer will begin his season on Saturday and is the No. 4 seed in the draw. Joining Ticer will be sophomore D.J. Geatz and freshman Adrien Debreyne.

The singles finalists and doubles champion from this event will earn spots in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, Nov. 4-7, at the University of Michigan.

Seventeen ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men and women are taking place over the last two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country.

The 2004 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the nation's premier collegiate indoor tennis tournament, is the second of three national championship events for college tennis this season. The first events - the Riviera/ITA Women's and IcyHot/ITA Men's All-American Championships - were held earlier this month, and the third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May. The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including: qualifiers from these Wilson/ ITA Regional Championships held across the country, the ITA National Small College champions, top performers from the ITA All-American Championships and at-large card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 7,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships.

2004 ITA Midwest Regional Championships
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Oct. 22, 2004

Qualifying Singles
Round of 32 - Octavian Nicodim (Louisville) (1) def. Nic Edlefsen (MN), 6-3, 6-2
Round of 32 - Tim Bradshaw (Western Michigan) (3) def. Chi Pham (MN), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2
Round of 32 - Brian Lipinski (MN) (7) def. Ben Dunham-Freer (Valparaiso), 6-1, 6-4
Quarterfinal - Andrew Roth (Notre Dame) (10) def. Lipinski (MN) (7), 7-6 (1), 6-2