TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler and Tyler Junior College tennis programs are set to host the annual Tyler Invite this weekend, with matches being held at both institution's respective facilities throughout the day on Friday and Saturday.
 
The event will be the inaugural competition for both the Patriots men's and women's tennis squads, and will provide each team the opportunity to gain experience against quality opponents right out of the gate. The tournament will be conducted on both UT Tyler and Tyler Junior College campuses, with the men's and women's side split into flights for the singles matches and a bracket format for the doubles competition.
 
Both Patriot teams will enter the 2021-22 season with high expectations as both teams proved to be competitive in their first full season of competition against Lone Star Conference foes last spring. The men's team claimed the 2021 Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship, navigating the LSC schedule with a perfect 7-0 record.
 
Head coach Adam Cohen was named the 2021 LSC Coach of the Year and Wilson ITA South Central Coach of the Year for his guidance of the men's side, while Egor Shestakov was named the region's Rookie of the Year. Shestakov is slated to return in 2021 for his sophomore season after also garnering 2021 LSC Freshman of the Year honors, and will return alongside fellow All-LSC selections Gonzalo Fernandez Gil, Jorge Sala Frigeri, Jonas Dixon and Yudai Watanabe, in what should be a Patriot lineup stacked with talent.
 
The women's side for UT Tyler also proved that they could hang at the top of the conference in 2021, finishing the season with a 12-5 overall record and a 5-3 mark in conference matches. Tanvikhaa Saravanan and Leony Deutschmann both earned All-LSC honors at season's end, and will lead a largely in-tact core of returners from 2021.
 
The Tyler Invite will be the first of a string of tournaments for the Patriots that will prepare each team for a pair of highly touted tournaments later this fall in the ITA South Central Regional and the ITA Oracle Cup. The ITA South Central Region in Wichita Falls, Texas will give coach Cohen and company a first-hand look at how the sides stack up against the South Central Region's best, while the ITA Oracle Cup in Rome, Ga. will expose the Patriots to a national level of competition.
 
The South Central Regional is slated for Sept. 30-Oct. 2, and the Oracle Cup on Oct. 14-17.
 
Both teams will be well prepared for those two tournaments, beginning on Friday afternoon as the Tyler Invite will once again feature top competition from the Division I, Division II and Junior College levels. Each flight has been drawn based on relative skill level for each competitor, so the Patriots will be fully aware of how they stand against quality competition at weekend's end.
 
Times and locations for each match in every flight, as well as live results throughout the weekend will be included in the live scoring link at the top of the release and HERE.