Pioneer Tennis Invite slated for Saturday

Maharishi School will play host to Albia, West Burlington-Notre Dame, Davis County and Fairfield for the boys five Pioneer Invitational on Saturday.

Round robin play is slated for games at Punj Tennis Center and the Fairfield Middle School courts, and play will go on rain or shine. If precipitation does show up, teams will move to the four indoor courts in the M.U.M. recreation center and play ?until the cows come home? according to MSAE head coach Lawrence Eyre.

?It?s going to be a lot of a tennis, which is a good thing, and we?re definitely looking forward to it. It gives the kids the chance to play .? Eyre said. ?All five teams are in the same district and that?s part of the tradition of this tournament ? it?s not definitive, but it give the coaches an idea when the time comes to seed the district tournament.?

MSAE is the returning champion from last year?s tournament, a tournament Fairfield didn?t participate in. The Trojans enter this year in place of Mount Pleasant with Justin Bradfield leading the way. Thursday, Bradfield faced Davis County?s Tucker Henderson ? last year?s Pioneer Invite runner-up in No. 1 singles. Bradfield defeated Henderson 9-7 in Bloomfield and is now on a three match win streak. MSAE?s No. 1 Thomas Weiss was also absent from last year?s invite, but that?s only because Weiss is currently in his freshman campaign.

Teams will enter a six-man lineup ? two to play singles, four to play two sets of doubles matches ? to play 12 games with no ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker. Team scoring will be determined by total number of games won giving each individual the chance to win 52 games.

Play is set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.