Jan. 2, 2004

WACO, Texas - The 16-team field has been announced for the 2004 USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships taking place Feb. 5-8 in Seattle and Baylor is one of the teams selected.

The USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship is collegiate tennis' premier indoor team tournament. The men's championship has been held since 1973 and offers a preview of the teams to beat in the May NCAA Championships.

The field for the USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships, hosted by the University of Washington is: Baylor, Boise State, California, Duke, Florida, Harvard, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Tulsa, UCLA, Vanderbilt and host Washington.

Illinois broke the Pac-10's stranglehold on the men's title last season, beating Florida 4-2 in the final. Prior to this four different Pac-10 schools (Stanford, UCLA, California and Southern California) had won the title every year since 1987. Stanford has won a record 12 titles.

The Bears played in the National Team Indoor Championships last season in Louisville, Ky. They defeated No. 23 Georgia (4-0), No. 7 Stanford (4-0) before losing to eventual champion No. 2 Illinois (4-0).

The men's tournament takes place at the Nordstrom Tennis Center and Seattle Tennis Club. The collegiate tennis dual match season begins in January and concludes in May with the season-ending NCAA Championships. For much of the country (at least) the first third of the season is played indoors.