Mark Nationally Ranked By ITA
Sep 13, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 13, 2010
ITA Men's National Freshman/Newcomer Singles Rankings
NEW ORLEANS - Idan Mark, a sophomore men's tennis player for the Tulane Green Wave, is ranked eighth in the national freshman/newcomer singles rankings by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in the first poll of the fall season.
Mark, a native of Hod Hasharon, Israel, sat out last season, his first at Tulane.
"This ranking is a tremendous honor for Idan and says a lot about the rebuilding efforts of our men's tennis program here at Tulane University," second-year head coach Mark Booras said. "Idan is the epitome of a student-athlete who excels academically and athletically. He is a hard worker and is a guy who always puts the team ahead of himself.
"This freshman ranking is a list of the top recruits in Division I for the 2010-11 season," Booras added. "Seeing that our program is in only its second year back, signing a player of this caliber shows that recruits truly believe in this unique renovation opportunity and want to bring Tulane back into national prominence."
Mark played as an amateur in the ATP World Tour prior to arriving in New Orleans and achieved a singles ranking of 670 and a doubles ranking of 550. One of his highlights included reaching the finals of an ITF Futures event in 2007 in Botswana. Mark won a pair of doubles champions, one in an Israel Futures event, and the other in a Senegal Futures event.
Mark ranks behind Virginia's Alex Domijan, Ohio State's Blaz Rola, Ole Miss' Nikala Scholtz, Oklahoma's Peerakit Siributwong, Oklahoma State's Rifat Biktyakov, Illinois' Ku Singh, and Oklahoma's Tsvetan Mihov.
The Green Wave sophomore is ranked ahead of USC's Raymond Sarmiento and Mississippi State's Malte Stropp.
"As I look at the other schools listed in these rankings consisting of three past national championship programs in USC and Illinois and perennial top five ranked tennis powerhouses (Virginia, Ohio State and Ole Miss)," Booras said. "I am truly encouraged to see that Tulane can compete with these schools in recruiting and attract this level player to be positive ambassadors for our school."
Booras and Tulane returned to the courts last fall for the first time since the program suspended operations following Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005.
"I'm very pleased with our entire first year recruiting class as they have represented Tulane very well in their first year back, earning the highest team GPA (3.41) and competing with the heart and belief of true warriors all of the way through a grueling first season," Booras added. "My goal is to continue signing players that represent Tulane in this manner in order to help get us back to the level I believe we can be."
The Green Wave open the 2010 fall schedule this weekend with a trip down I-10 to Lafayette for the ULL Invitational that gets underway on Friday.
Players Mentioned
