Men's tennis team prepared for the ITA Regional Championships

The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis team will head to Georgia this weekend to compete in the ITA Regional Championships.

The Titans hit the road for Tifton, Ga. to play for a spot in the ITA National Championship Tournament in Indian Wells, California.

Sophomores Nils Michel, Adriel Azucey and Fabricio Galvan along with freshman Frederik Oervad will compete in the three-day tournament beginning Friday. All four players will compete in singles and Michel will team with Oervad and Galvan and Azucey will play together in doubles.

Galvan said last year's run to the NJCAA National Championship Tournament will help him this weekend.

"Based on our performance in the national tournament last year in Texas, I feel more capable in myself that I can do and achieve good things," said Galvan who teamed with Milan Savic to reach the quarterfinals in doubles last year.

Galvan and Oervad went undefeated in the Embry Riddle Open and hope to carry that momentum into this weekend.

"It was a very good experience playing in those matches, gives us a good start before regionals. It gave me confidence and I am looking forward to playing well again this weekend," Oervad said. "We have a chance to play against some of the best players in junior college tennis, I just want to play some good matches in regionals and hopefully that is good enough to win and qualify for nationals and go to California."

Oervad and Galvan were on the court an hour before practice began, practicing in the hot sun to prepare them for the long weekend of tennis.

"We have been trying to play in the hot weather to get the physical conditioning we will need and it has helped me," Oervad said. "It is so nice to have teammates that will do that."

Acuzey and Michel teamed up last year to make the semifinals in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament and are looking to play well this weekend in Georgia.