College Tennis

[Kirijax]

The College Tennis season has started and the regionals for the National Team Indoor Championships are this weekend. The event is called the ITA Kick-off Weekend and all of the top teams will need to win two dual matches to advance to the national tournament. The defending champions from last year are the Ohio State Buckeyes (men) and the Duke Blue Devils (women). There should be some good tennis this weekend. Here are the top 25 teams for both the men and women this week.

Link to the ITA Kick-off Weekend

 

[Kirijax]

2015 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship

There are two national team competitions during the college tennis season; the ITA Indoors in February and the NCAA Championships in May. The ITA Indoors had the draft for the participating teams in June, the first two rounds of regionals were in January, and the Top 16 teams play for the championship this month. The women are playing their tournament this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. The University of Virginia is hosting the event. Duke defeated UCLA for the title last year.

The Top Eight seeds and their opponents:
No. 1 UCLA vs. Kentucky
No. 2 Florida vs. Clemson
No. 3 North Carolina vs. Oklahoma State
No. 4 Duke vs. TCU
No. 5 California vs. Vanderbilt
No. 6 Alabama vs. Miami
No. 7 Virginia vs. Southern California
No. 8 Georgia vs. Michigan

Tournament Central

 

[Kirijax]

Beginner's Course for College Tennis

The college tennis season can be a bit confusing sometimes, with so many tournaments involving team, singles and doubles competition. There are the main events that every school will enter or try to qualify for. Here’s a simple breakdown of the college tennis season.

ITA National Summer Circuit / ITA National Summer Championships

Singles/Doubles

The ITA Summer Circuit is made up of eight regional circuits (East, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Mountain, Southwest and West) and all eight regions consist of four consecutive open tournaments played during the month of July, leading up to the ITA National Summer Championships in August. The champions are given a spot in the main draw of the All-American Championships in October.

Circuit: All through July

Championships: Second week of August

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ITF Men’s Circuit

This is not part of the ITA season, but many of the top college players will forego the Summer Circuit and play the ITF Futures events. The Futures tournaments are the entry level tournaments for the ATP Tour. These are held all over the world throughout the year and all you need to play in them is to have an ITF registration number and win some qualifying matches to get into the main draw.

Once September comes, the college season really picks up. The ITA will put out the first singles and doubles rankings for the season and players will start to prepare for the biggest tournaments of the season.

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ITA/D’Novo Men’s All-American Championships

Singles/Doubles
The players for this tournament is decided by the rankings. There are a few spots left open and the remaining players will play through pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds to get into the main draw. This is probably the third biggest title in college singles and doubles.
First two weeks of October

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USTA/ITA Regional Championships
Tournaments are held in 12 regional tournaments. The winners and a few wild-cards use this tournament to qualify for the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.
September – October, 2010
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USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships
The winners of the ITA Regional Championships come together in this tournament to determine the national champions. 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams make up the tournament. This is considered the second biggest title of the season. This concludes the first half of the college tennis season.

First week in November

The ITA releases the year’s first team rankings

First Week of January

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The team competition starts!

Second Week of January

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ITA Kick Off Weekends
Sixty schools are divided into 15 groups of 4 teams each. One team from each group will host. The school that wins twice will move on to the ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships.

Last week of January

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ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships
The fifteen schools who won their group plus the host school will play to determine the Indoor Team National Champion. This is considered the second biggest team tile of the year.

Second Week of February

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After the Team Indoor Championships, the team tennis season continues. Around 25 dual matches are played up to the ACC Championships.

February through April

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Conference Championships

The seeds are determined by the regular season standings. There are 1st round matches followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

Last week of April

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NCAA Championships

The NCAA Championships starts with the Regionals. Four teams will be grouped together with one team acting as host. The team that wins twice will move on to the Sweet Sixteen. The final 16 teams will gather at the host school to determine the NCAA champion.

After the team competition is finished; the singles and doubles tournaments will be held to determine the NCAA champions. The champions are given a berth in the US Open tournament at the end of August.

Second week in May

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This concludes the college tennis season for the year.

 

[Kirijax]

The ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships were held this past weekend and the North Carolina Tarheels won the championship. The results were as follows:

Round of 16:
#1 UCLA defeated Kentucky
#8 Georgia defeated Michigan
Texas Christian defeated #4 Duke
#5 California defeated Vanderbilt
#3 North Carolina defeated Oklahoma State
Miami defeated #6 Alabama
#7 Virginia defeated Southern California
#2 Florida defeated Clemson

Quarterfinals:
#8 Georgia defeated #1 UCLA
#5 California defeated Texas Christian
#3 North Carolina defeated Miami
#2 Florida defeated #7 Virginia

Semifinals:
#8 Georgia defeated #5 California
#3 North Carolina defeated #2 Florida

Finals: #3 North Carolina defeated #8 Georgia

 

[Kirijax]

The ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships will be held February 13-16 in Chicago, Illinois. The women's tournament was last week with North Carolina taking the title. Last year's men's champion Ohio State will be trying to win their second national title. They made news this week by winning their 200th consecutive home team dual match. This streak started in 2003 and they have not lost at home since. The NCAA champion USC will be looking to regain the title they won in 2013. Host Illinois is looking good this year and has a very good chance to take their third title and first since 2004.

The Top Eight seeds and their opponents:
No. 1 USC vs. No. 16 Penn State
No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Ole Miss
No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 14 Texas Christian
No. 4 Georgia vs. No. 13 Columbia
No. 5 Illinois vs. 12. California
No. 6 Duke vs. No. 11 Baylor
No. 7 North Carolina vs. No. 10 UCLA
No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Texas

Tournament Central

 

[Kirijax]

The ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships were held this past weekend in Chicago and the Oklahoma Sooner won the championship today. They made the NCAA finals for the first time last year and this is their first national title of any kind. Incidentally, their head coach is John Roddick, the older brother of former world No. 1 Andy Roddick. This is a bit of sweet revenge for the Sooner who lost to the Trojans in the NCAA finals last May. The results were as follows:

Round of 16:
#1 Southern California defeated #16 Penn State 4-0
#8 Ohio State defeated #9 Texas 4-3
#4 Georgia defeated #13 Colombia 4-3
#5 Illinois defeated #12 California 4-0
#11 Baylor defeated #6 Duke 4-1
#3 Virginia defeated #14 Texas Christian 4-0
#7 North Carolina defeated #10 UCLA 4-2
#2 Oklahoma defeated #15 Ole Miss 4-1

Quarterfinals:
#1 Southern California defeated #8 Ohio Sate 4-1
#4 Georgia defeated #5 Illinois 4-2
#11 Baylor defeated #3 Virginia 4-3
#2 Oklahoma defeated #7 North Carolina 4-1

Semifinals:
#1 Southern California defeated #4 Georgia 4-1
#2 Oklahoma defeated #11 Baylor 4-2

Finals:
#2 Oklahoma defeated defeated #1 Southern California 4-2

Tournament Central