Oct. 21, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s tennis team will be competing in the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women’s Ohio Valley Championships which begins Thurs., Oct. 22 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The four-day tournament will be hosted by the Western Tennis and Fitness Club in Western Hills. The singles finalists and doubles champion from this event will earn spots in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, which run from Nov. 5-8, hosted by Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
Thursday’s rounds of competition will consist of two qualifying singles rounds and two main draw doubles rounds. Junior Megan Broderick and sophomore Caroline Lilley pair up as the No. 2 seed in doubles. They earned a first round bye and will see action for the first time in the Round of 32 against Miami’s Stephanie Danesis and Brittany Larson. Junior Lauren Meier and sophomore Minnette Pienaar make up the second UK tandem and are slated to play Cincinnati’s own Caitlyn O’Gara and Ksenia Slyncko in the Round of 64. Should the Kentucky team of Meier/Pienaar advance, they would play the No. 6 seeded Jennifer Rabot and Michelle Sammons of Purdue. Doubles matches do not start until 2:00 p.m. ET.
No members of the Blue and White compete in singles on Thursday as they are all automatic entries into the main draw. Main draw singles action begins at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Broderick is the No. 5 seed and must wait to find out her opponent until the qualifying round is over on Thursday. Also seeded from the Cats is Meier at No. 11. She is set to play Courtney Collins of Memphis. Pienaar and Lilley each play a member of the Miami RedHawks in the first round of singles. Anastasia Dracheva, the No. 9 seed, will serve across from Pienaar while Larson, one of Lilley’s doubles opponents from Thursday, will see the Portland, Ore., native again in singles.
The 2009 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the nation’s premier collegiate indoor tennis tournament, is the second of three national championship events for college tennis this season. The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including: qualifiers from these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships held across the country, the ITA National Small College champions, and top performers from the ITA All-American Championships and at-large wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 7,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit presented by the USTA, and the Campbell/ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership, and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.Admission is free and play will begin each day at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Singles finals are set to begin on Monday morning.
To get the most up-to-date information on your Kentucky Wildcat women’s tennis team visit www.ukathletics.com.
