Aug. 6, 2010
Bloomington, Ind. – Georgia Tech rising senior Eliot Potvin is one of the top four seeds in the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships that begin Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Center.
The ITA/USTA National Summer Championships are the pinnacle of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, which was played at 32 regional sites throughout the country last month. A total of 2,965 players participated in ITA Summer Circuit events this year, falling just short of 2009’s record-breaking mark of 2,976.
Potvin, a native of Hampden, Maine, ranked No. 111 in the nation among college players, earned his seed by reaching the semifinals of the Southeast Circuit in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He posted a 22-13 record for Georgia Tech last year, including a 16-9 mark in the spring dual season. Potvin played fourteen of his 25 dual matches at the No. 3 spot in the lineup, and went 9-5 in those contests.
Draws and start times for Saturday’s opening round matches will be available on the IU and ITA websites at www.iuhoosiers.com and www.itatennis.com.
Nearly 30,000 men and women have competed in ITA Summer Circuit events since it began in 1993. The circuit provides college (and junior and alumni) players the opportunity to compete in organized events virtually year round. Although the primary focus of the circuit is to provide incoming freshman and collegiate players the chance to compete in the summer months, for NCAA compliance purposes, the events within the ITA Summer Circuit are categorized as “open”; therefore anyone is eligible to compete in these events as long as he/she is a current ITA member.
The ITA Summer Circuit is currently 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 August 7-11 ITA/USTA National Summer Championships in Bloomington, Indiana.
This week’s top four men’s seeds are: Potvin, Daniel Stahl (Notre Dame), Devin McCarthy (Ohio State), and Stephen Havens (Notre Dame). The top four women’s seeds are: Keri Wong (Clemson), Emily Fraser (Virginia), Christine McGaffigan (Notre Dame), and Anamika Bhargava (Pepperdine).
The singles and doubles champions from the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships earn wild cards into the first national tournaments of the 2010-11 collegiate tennis season – the D’Novo Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships in early October.
