Virginia Begins Play At Riviera/ITA All-American Championships

Sept. 29, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Members of the Virginia women’s tennis team return to action this weekend, beginning competition at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championship. Pre-qualifying rounds are hosted by Pepperdine, while the qualifying rounds and main draw will be played at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Junior Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine), ranked No. 124 in the ITA singles rankings, is the first player in action for the Cavaliers. Kelley, who advanced to the championship of her flight at the Big 5 Challenge in the first weekend of play at TCU last week will begin with the pre-qualifying rounds on Saturday (Sept. 30).

Kelley is the first of three Virginia players scheduled to compete in the prestigious event. Senior Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.V.) will begin play with the qualifying rounds on Tuesday, Oct. 3, while junior Rosie Johanson (Abbotsford, British Columbia) will begin competition in the main draw on Thursday, Oct. 5. Johanson is ranked No. 34 in singles.

Also scheduled to compete is the doubles pairing of Mercer and sophomore Chloe Gullickson (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) with the main draw that also begins on Thursday, Oct. 5.

For the 33rd consecutive year, the Riviera Tennis Club invites the nation’s top Division I women’s players to compete in the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships. In addition to vying for the All-American national title, players will be competing to secure a berth into the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, which takes place November 1-5, in Palm Desert, California. Singles quarterfinalists, consolation singles champion and finalist, along with doubles semifinalists and consolation doubles champion and finalist advance to the end of fall national championship.

Two-time NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins won the 2015 Riviera/ITA All-American Championship for Virginia in her senior season.