By Rico Chow, '12

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No. 54 men's tennis team will travel to Palo Alto, Calif. to participate in the 2011 ITA Kick-Off Weekend this weekend on the Stanford University campus.

In the ITA Kick-Off Weekend nation-wide tournament, 60 schools are playing at 15 sites and each site hosts four teams of knock-out tournament. The 15 schools that win both of their matches at these events will be invited to play in the Feb. 18-21 ITA National Team Indoor Championship at the Boar's Head Sports Club (hosted by the University of Virginia).

This is the first time in the program's history for the Broncos to play in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Broncos are scheduled to play against No. 8 Stanford on Jan. 28 and either No. 38 Vanderbilt or No. 41 Nebraska on Jan. 29 at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

Although the Broncos had a bitter lost against Stanford (7-0) in a match-up last year, they had a number of victories over Stanford in the ITA Regional Tournament at the past fall.

In singles, Kyle Dandan, Nicolas Vinel and Tom Pham won against Denis Lin, Ted Kelly and Walker Kehrer, respectively. Freshman Keith Kamono also grabbed a win against Fawaz Hourani (6-4, 6-3).

The Bronco doubles pair of Dandan and Vinel defeated Stanford Fawaz Hourani and Sam Ecker pair comfortably in the Round of 32 (8-3). The momentum from the ITA Regional Tournament will bring more victories to the Broncos.

"We are proud to be in the top 60 teams in the nation to play at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Playing against higher ranking teams will be exciting and a great opportunity for our players to be better," says the men's tennis head coach Derek Mills.

Both matches are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Jan. 28 vs. Stanford and Jan. 29 vs. Vanderbilt/Nebraska.

For live broadcast during the event, click here

Go Broncos!