Cajuns Head West For ITA Kick-Off Weekend

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LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's tennis team will put itself to a tough test this weekend when it heads west to take on a pair of nationally-ranked teams beginning Friday at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Los Angeles.

Head coach Mark Jeffrey's Cajuns, who came in at No. 73 in the latest ITA national rankings, will take on defending national champion and the No. 1 team in the country on Friday at 12:00 p.m. (CT) before squaring off with either No. 50 UNC Wilmington or No. 57 Santa Clara on Saturday.

The Cajuns are 2-2 in the season's early going, dropping matches to North Florida and Lamar, while picking up wins over Furman and South Alabama. The winner of the weekend's four-team tournament will earn an automatic bid into the ITA National Team Indoor Championships alongside other ITA Kick-Off Weekend site winners. That tournament is set for Feb. 13-16 in Chicago, Ill.

Vlad Kramarov, Damian Farinola and Jake Wynan have been the early headliners for the Cajuns in the season's first two weeks. Kramarov has opened the year with a 3-1 season record with his lone loss coming in the No. 1 slot, while Farinola and Wynan are each 2-1 in singles play.

Meanwhile, the Trojans boast a set of five players in the national singles rankings as well as the top doubles team in the land with the tandem of Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz, a team who claimed the 2014 ITA National Indoor doubles championship in the fall. Hanfmann is also ranked as the No. 3 singles player in the country.

On the other side of the bracket, UNC Wilmington and Santa Clara each enter the weekend at 2-0. The Seahawks picked up season-opening wins over Appalachian State and Gardner-Webb last week, and Santa Clara swept its way to wins over UC Santa Cruz and Sonoma State.

The Cajuns will next travel to Baylor on Jan. 29 for a match against No. 6 Baylor in Waco.

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Players Mentioned

Damian Farinola

Vlad Kramarov

Jake Wynan