James Collieson has dropped out of Bermuda's Davis Cup team days before they fly out to compete in Trinidad.

Collieson, 21, who studies at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, has instead opted to play an important tournament for his college next week.

His place will be taken by Dean Mello, who will fly out to the Caribbean on Saturday with team-mates Michael Way, Ricky Mallory and Jensen Bascome.

David Lambert, spokesman for the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association, said: "James is torn between representing his country and representing his college.

"From our point of view, we wanted him to play for Bermuda, but we did not want to put pressure on him.

"His loss is a major disappointment, because James has played for us before and has a good idea of the atmosphere and the mental approach needed at this level.'' James' father Will Collieson said the decision to rule himself out had been a tough one for his son.

"It was an extremely hard decision for him and he did not want to let the Bermuda team down,'' said Will Collieson.

"He's getting very well supported there and to miss the tournament could have jeopardised his education.

"James plays number one for his college. They are a First Division team and they have won every game since James started playing.'' He added that next week was James' spring break and so he had thought he would be free to represent the Island. But his college have now called on him to play in a major inter-college tournament.

Early last week, the BLTA were informed by the university that there was a strong chance Collieson would not be available for the Davis Cup trip.

An emergency meeting to decide on a contingency plan was held last Tuesday when Collieson's availability was still in doubt.

A natural replacement would have seemed to be Donald Evans, who played in last year's Davis Cup team, but he is unavailable through work commitments.

US-based Mello, who worked as the professional at Pomander Gate last year, agreed to join the team at late notice.

The 38-year-old, a losing finalist with Stuart Smith in the doubles event at last November's Coral Beach Invitational, is based in Florida and before returning to the Island last year, he had also worked in Atlanta.

The team strategy has yet to be worked out, as that will depend partly on the opposition and timing of matches, so it is not clear yet whether Mello will play singles as well as doubles.

Last year in Bolivia, Bermuda were demoted to Group IV after a 2-1 loss in a relegation play-off against Antigua and Barbuda, just a year after winning promotion to Group III on home soil.

This year, the Island will be up against host nation Trinidad, Barbados and Puerto Rico.

Lambert said: "Despite losing James, we are still confident that with the players we have, we can win enough matches to get promoted -- and that is our objective.'' Tough decision: Top Bermuda tennis player James Collieson has decided to play for his US college rather than represent his country in next week's Davis Cup in Trinidad.