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The 2007 Intercollegiate
Tennis Association (ITA) National Small College
Championships, one of collegiate athletics’ most
unique events, will be taking place October 11-14 at
the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama.
These championships, presented by
Outback Steakhouse and the United States Tennis
Association, are being hosted by the Copeland-Cox
Tennis Center, the world's largest public tennis
facility, for the first time. This full-service
facility includes over 60 courts, all lighted and
hard-court, with a pro shop and professional
instruction on site.
This event, administered
by the ITA, dates back to 1986 and determines
national champions for NCAA Divisions II and III,
NAIA and Junior/Community College men’s and women’s
singles and doubles during the first two-and-a-half
days of play. Those champions then compete to become
the overall national small college champs (for all
divisions) on October 13-14 in the ITA “Super Bowl”
of Small College Tennis.
Each small college
division features eight singles players and eight
doubles teams who earned spots into this national
event by winning their respective Wilson/ITA
Regional Championships held over the past three
weeks throughout the country. All told, nearly 5,000
student-athletes competed in 61 regional tournaments
to earn spots in the national event.
This is the only national championship event for
singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA
levels. It is also the only tournament that combines
all levels of Junior/Community College (NJCAA
Divisions I, II and III and the California
division).
The overall ITA “Super
Bowl” of Small College Tennis champions on Oct. 14
will earn wild cards into the Nov. 1-4 ITA National
Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, hosted by The
Ohio State University in Columbus. This tournament
is the second of three national championships for
Division I tennis and offers the small college
participants the opportunity to become champions for
all divisions of collegiate tennis.
Small College tennis
enjoys a rich tradition. Notable small college
tennis players include the likes of Billie Jean King
(Cal State Los Angeles), Brad Gilbert (Foothill
Comm. College), Mikael Pernfors (Seminole Comm.
College), Paul Haarhuis (Armstrong Atlantic State)
and doubles greats Ken Flach and Robert Seguso (SIU-Edwardsville).
And past small college players who have enjoyed
success on the pro tour in recent years include
Wesley Moodie, who played in the ITA National Small
College Championships while at Auburn-Montgomery,
and another former ITA participant, Eric Butorac of
Gustavus Adolphus. Astronaut Sally Ride (Swarthmore)
and actress Lisa Kudrow (Vassar) both played at the
NCAA Division III level and nine of the first 16
recipients of the prestigious ITA Achievement Award
hailed from small colleges.
One year after sweeping
all four titles, NAIA players claimed three of the
four “Super Bowl” titles at the 2006 championships
in Fort Myers, Florida. Embry-Riddle’s Mislav Hizak
became the first player to repeat as ITA men’s
singles champ. Fresno Pacific’s Jelena Pandzic
captured the women’s singles crown and went on to
reach the final at the ITA National Indoor
Championships (she also won three straight USTA pro
circuit titles this past summer).
Auburn-Montgomery’s Kamila Dadakhodjeava and Tereza
Veverkova and Lynn's Julien Carsuzaa and Dennis
Riegraf captured the doubles titles. |
