FRANCESCA DI LORENZO, CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS TO LEAD U.S. IN 2016 MASTER’U BNP PARIBAS INTERNATIONAL COLLEGIATE TEAM COMPETITION
The USTA today announced the top American collegians selected to represent the U.S. in the annual Master’U BNP Paribas International Collegiate Team Competition December 1-4 in Marcq-en-Baroeul, France.
Two-time USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Champion Francesca Di Lorenzo (Soph., Ohio State; New Albany, Ohio); top-ranked collegiate singles player Hayley Carter (Sr., North Carolina; Hilton Head Island, S.C.), and Riviera/ITA All-American Championships finalist Ena Shibahara (Fr., UCLA; Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) will compete on the women’s side, while No. 5-ranked collegiate singles player Christopher Eubanks (Jr., Georgia Tech; Atlanta); No. 6 Tom Fawcett (Jr., Stanford; Winnetka, Ill.) and two-time All-Big Ten selection Strong Kirchheimer (Sr., Northwestern; Cary, N.C.) will compete for the men.
Boise State men’s coach Greg Patton and Ohio State women’s coach Melissa Schaub will travel with and coach the team, which will compete against teams from Belgium, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Russia. Last year, Fawcett was a part of the U.S. contingent that won its fifth straight Master’U title and sixth in the last seven years. Past U.S. representatives in the Master’U competition include Steve Johnson, Irina Falconi, Austin Krajicek, Maria Sanchez, Mackenzie McDonald and Danielle Collins.
“Master’U is effectively the Davis Cup and Fed Cup of collegiate tennis,” said USTA Collegiate Tennis Director Stephen Amritraj. “We’re excited to have another strong group of players on this year’s ‘Team USA,’ going for a ‘six-peat.’”
Each team match consists of two men’s and two women’s singles matches, one women’s and one men’s doubles match and a mixed doubles match. Complete results from all three days can be found by visiting the Master’U BNP Paribas website (click here).
Editor’s Note: For my podcast with Coach Greg Patton following the 2014 Master’U, click here.
