Sept. 27, 2007
ATLANTA – The Yellow Jacket women’s tennis team returns to action this weekend when it travels to Los Angeles to compete in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships presented by Fila.
The first Intercollegiate Tennis Association national and singles and doubles championships of the 2007-08 season – the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships presented by Fila – is one of three national collegiate tennis championships this season. The Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, the Nov. 1-4 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, and the year-end NCAA Championships are college tennis’ three national championship events during the season.
The premier hard court event of the fall collegiate season, the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships presented by Fila feature the top players in NCAA Division I tennis. Twenty-one of the 23 main draw participants are ranked in the latest top 25, including top-ranked Megan Falcon from LSU, No. 2 Lindsey Nelson from USC, and No. 3 Melanie Gloria of Fresno State. The doubles title will be up for grabs, as last year’s champions, Roxanne Clark and Kady Pooler from Arizona State have graduated. Looking to claim that honor will be top-ranked Megan Moulton-Levy and Katarina Zoricic from William and Mary, along with No. 2 Ani Mikacika and Federica van Adrichem from Clemson and No. 3 Kristi Miller and Whitney McCray from Georgia Tech.
The Oct.4-7 main draw is preceded by two sets of qualifying tournaments. The 64-player, 32 doubles team prequalifying tournament is Sept. 29-30, and eight players and four doubles teams will advance from there to the Oct. 2-3 64-player qualifying tournament at Riviera (where eight players and four doubles teams will advance to the main draw).
The famous Riviera Tennis Club has played host to this event since 1988 (it also hosted an intercollegiate women’s championship from 1986-88).
Freshmen Noelle Hickey, Maya Johansson and Sasha Krupina will all begin in the prequalifying singles draw Saturday, while McCray, Christy Striplin, Kirsten Flower and Amanda McDowell all start in the qualifying bracket Tuesday. Miller, ranked fifth in the nation in singles, has received a bye to the main draw, and will begin play next Thursday.
A week after the duo went 3-0 in the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational, Flower and Hickey will again team together in doubles, beginning in the prequalifying draw as the No. 1 seed. Joining the Tech tandem in that draw will also be Striplin, teaming with Hickey, as well as McDowell, teaming with Krupina.
For more information on the 2007 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, click here.
