Virginia Hosts ITA Kickoff Weekend Matches
Sunday Championship Live Video | Live Scoring | Saturday Live Video
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s tennis team (2-1, 0-1 ACC) will be hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend matches at the Boar’s Head Sports Club on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 25-26, 2020. Admission is free.
Memphis, North Carolina State, Utah State and Virginia will be competing in the tournament. The winning team will earn a spot in the 16-team field of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, being held Feb. 14-17 at the University of Wisconsin’s Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisc.
ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Saturday
- 10 a.m. | No. 17 NC State vs. Utah State
- 1 p.m. | No. 23 Virginia vs. Memphis
Sunday
- 10 a.m. | Consolation Match
- 1 p.m. | Championship Match
- Live stats and live streaming video will be available through links posted on VirginiaSports.com
NOTING THE CAVALIERS
- The Cavaliers began the season ranked No. 10 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s Tennis Team preseason rankings but dipped down to No. 23 in this week’s rankings after getting edged 4-3 at Louisville last weekend
- Freshman Christian Alshon (Boca Raton, Fla.) and sophomore William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) have both started dual season with 3-0 records in singles. Alshon has played at four, five and six while Woodall has competed at two, three and four
- Senior Ammar Alhaqbani (Alexandria, Va.) and sophomore Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) lead the team in singles victories this season at 13
- The Cavaliers have two players ranked in singles: junior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) at No. 68 and Goetz at No. 115. Senior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) who was the preseason No. 1 singles player, has not yet played in a collegiate singles match this season
- Ross and Woodall lead the team with a 5-3 record at doubles and are ranked No. 53 in the ITA Doubles rankings
ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND
- During the January 24-27, 2020 weekend, 60 teams per gender will travel to 15 host sites to participate, with four host schools having earned the right to host both genders (North Carolina, Stanford, Texas, and UCLA). Host sites were selected based on the final 2018-2019 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings
- Each of the 15 regional host institutions, per gender, will welcome three other teams for a single-elimination event, with the winners advancing to the National Team Indoors. The Wisconsin men and the Illinois women will serve as hosts for the National Team Indoors in 2020, guaranteeing them an automatic bid into the championships
- This is the 12th year that ITA Kickoff Weekend matches have been used to determine the field for the ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship
- ITA Kickoff Weekend is unique in college athletics in that each regional competition is determined via the Kickoff Weekend Draft, where each team selects which regional they wish to participate in. Selections are made in order of the final 2018-2019 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings
- The ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship, presented by Oracle, is in its 45th year of existence. Fifteen teams will qualify for the event by winning their respective 2020 ITA Kick-Off Weekend four-team regional. The teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament over a four-day span to crown a national indoor champion. Each team is guaranteed three matches at the event
- The Cavaliers have won six ITA National Team Indoor Championships, including four-straight from 2008 to 2011 and most recently in 2017 when the tournament was held in Charlottesville
- Virginia has only failed to advance out of ITA Kickoff Weekend once in the previous 11 years of the tournament
ON THE HORIZON
The Cavaliers are back at the Boar’s Head next weekend, hosting Boston College on Friday, January 31 at 5 p.m. and Central Florida on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 12 p.m.