NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team will take part in the University of Kentucky/Charles Fluitt Invitational this weekend in Lexington, Ky. The first day of the Invitational begins at 9 a.m. Friday at the Hilary J. Boone Indoor Tennis Center, and will continue at the outdoor facility on Saturday and Sunday unless inclement weather prevents this from happening. Due to constant rain in the Lexington area, Friday's matches were moved indoors.

This weekend’s UK Invitational will showcase several players ranked in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s top 75. Eight of Vanderbilt’s nine players will be competing, with only freshman Greg Sossaman sitting out due to an injury.

The Commodores will have four players competing in the Ranked Flight division. Junior Bobby Reynolds, who is ranked No. 9 in the preseason ITA rankings, will have a stiff test in his opening match when he takes on No. 17-ranked Michael Kogan of Tulane. Junior Chad Harris, who enters ranked No. 38, will take on No. 39-ranked Victor Romero also of Tulane.

Sophomores Matthew Lockin and Scott Brown round out the Vanderbilt players competing in the Ranked Flight division. Lockin will have a difficult match-up with Kentucky’s Rahim Esmail, who defeated Scott Brown last weekend at the MTSU Invitational, 6-2, 7-6. Lockin finished runner-up in the Flight A division last weekend at MTSU. Brown takes on No. 69-ranked Paul Ciorascu of Mississippi. All four of these matches will not start before 12 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

Other ranked players taking part in this division are No. 1-ranked Jesse Witten of Kentucky, who finished runner-up in last year's NCAA individual championship, No. 10 Daniel Klemetz of MTSU, No. 19 Alex Hartman of Mississippi, No. 30 Maxim Belski of Alabama, No. 53 Cody Conley of Louisville and No. 65 Evan Austin of Kentucky.

In Flight A competition, three players will represent the Commodores. Senior Josh Tarkoff and juniors Zach Dailey and Lewis Smith will all play their opening matches on Friday morning. Tarkoff will take on Eastern Kentucky’s John Kellert, Dailey will go against Harry Walsh of Louisville and Lewis Smith will play Matt Mayer of Louisville.

Junior Jens Pilgram-Larsen is the only Vanderbilt player competing in the Flight B division. Pilgram-Larsen takes on Ian Smith of Mississippi State at 6 p.m. at Kentucky Tennis Academy. He won two matches last week in the same flight at the MTSU Invitational.

The Ranked Flight division will play two matches on Friday with the second-round matches starting after 6 p.m.