Virginia Opens ITA Kick-off Weekend With Ole Miss Saturday

Jan. 27, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s tennis team (1-0) continues competition at home this weekend, hosting action in the ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. Play in the four-team regional begins on Saturday (Jan. 28).

There are 15, four-team regionals played with the winners of the single-elimination event advancing to next month’s ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships at Yale.

Virginia will host Ole Miss (2-0) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The first match of the day will feature No. 19 LSU (2-0) will face Wake Forest (3-1) in the first match of the day at 10 a.m. The winners of each match will face-off at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday in the finals and play for a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The two losing teams will play in a consolation match at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Fans can follow the action through live stats linked at VirginiaSports.com or by following the team’s official Twitter account @UVAWomensTennis. Admission to all women’s tennis matches is free of charge.

The Cavaliers enter the weekend coming off a 4-3 win over Boston College to open the season last weekend. Junior Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.V.) was named the ACC Player of the Week after posting a straight-set win over nationally-ranked Asiya Dair at number one singles to help lead Virginia to the win.

Virginia has two players ranked nationally in singles with No. 79 Rosie Johanson (Abbotsford, British Columbia) and No. 124 Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine).

Ole Miss enters the weekend after going on the road last week to pick up a pair of wins over UC Irvine and Hawai’i. Freshman Anna Vrbenska was named the SEC Player of the Week for the Rebels after picking up a pair of wins at number three singles for Ole Miss.

The Rebels have one player in the singles rankings with junior Arianne Hartono ranked No. 31 and playing number one singles for Ole Miss.