Women's Tennis Heads to ITA Kickoff Weekend
January 23, 2014 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 23, 2014
The 2014 spring season shifts into high gear January 24-27 during the sixth annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend. In all, 120 teams will compete across the country for the 30 berths at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The University of Louisville Women's Tennis is heading to the No. 1 seeded and No. 2 ranked University of Florida along with Missouri and Harvard.
The Cards will be led by the No. 2 ranked doubles team of Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine.
The 25 universities hosting ITA Kick-Off Weekend events were designated as host sites in order of their year-end 2013 ITA team ranking, with five schools serving as dual gender sites. Three visiting schools will travel to each host site for a four-team tournament with the host school facing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed playing the No. 3 seed. The winners will come back the following day to play for a berth at the 2014 ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Over 100 team matches will be played over the weekend, with nine of 10 top teams from the women's side taking the courts. Some teams will play their first dual matches of the 2013-14 season during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, while others have already competed this spring.
Adding to the excitement, the ITA Kick-Off Weekend will be the first national tournament to use the new, experimental formats decided upon by the ITA Division Operating Committee.
The women will be playing all sets in singles and doubles to six games, with regular scoring and tiebreakers at 6-all. However, if a singles match splits sets, a match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set. The men's teams will also play sets in all matches to six games, but with tiebreakers at 5-all and no-ad scoring. All third sets for men's singles will be played out unless the team match is decided.
All men's and women's matches will be played under the "clinch-clinch" format and with no warm-up against opponents. More detailed descriptions, along with time management guidelines, can be seen here and are also accessible on the ITA Rules page. An FAQ is also available on the ITA website, with answers to frequently asked questions regarding the experimental formats.
Players Mentioned
