Draw Set for 2012 ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship
First round pairings have been determined for the 2012 ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship, hosted by the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 10-13. Matches are slated to begin at 9 am ET on Feb. 10. The complete draw can be seen here.
Top-seeded Duke will face off against the Ole Miss Rebels, a team that reeled off two top-30 victories during ITA Kick-Off Weekend, at 9 am ET. The Blue Devils are looking to claim their second ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship title after beating Florida 4-3 in 2003. The other 9 am match features the eighth-seeded Michigan Wolverines, which survived a 4-3 scare against Yale in Ann Arbor to move on to Charlottesville, and the Clemson Tigers, which defeated another Big Ten team Purdue during ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
The fourth-seeded Georgia Bulldogs will take the courts at Noon ET. Georgia enters the event with more ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship crowns than any other team in the field with three. The Bulldogs are set to play the Texas Longhorns, a team which already owns two victories over SEC squads. Also playing at Noon will be the fifth-seeded Cal Golden Bears and the Miami Hurricanes. Both teams successfully defended their home courts during ITA Kick-Off Weekend and will be looking to continue that level of play in Charlottesville.
The bottom half of the draw will begin play with two matches at 3:30 pm ET: sixth-seeded North Carolina vs. USC and third-seeded Baylor vs. Tennessee. Both the Tar Heels and Women of Troy have already picked up impressive wins away from home this season, as North Carolina beat Tennessee 5-2 in a neutral site match, and USC went into Tempe and defeated Arizona State 6-1 during ITA Kick-Off Weekend. In the other pairing, the Bears will enter the contest already having played 10 dual matches on the young season, while the Lady Vols will be coming off a tough pair of matches against Notre Dame and Michigan.
Host squad and seventh-seeded Virginia will be up against Northwestern in one of the final two matches, scheduled for 6:30 pm ET. The Cavaliers, with automatic entry into the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship as the host institution, got an early start on their conference play, beating rival Virginia Tech 7-0. The Wildcats got past fellow Big Ten member Nebraska 4-3 during ITA Kick-Off Weekend to move on to Charlottesville, where they will look to add to the back-to-back titles they claimed in 2009 and 2010. The other 6:30 pm match features second-seeded UCLA and Georgia Tech. This will mark the first dual match away from Los Angeles for the Bruins, while the Yellow Jackets are looking to continue their strong play after a season-opening loss to in-state rival Georgia in hopes of claiming their third ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship.
