No. 11 Virginia Hosts ITA Kickoff Weekend Matches

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 11 Virginia women’s tennis team (4-0) hosts ITA Kickoff Weekend matches at the Boar’s Head Sports Club this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26-27.

MATCH INFORMATION

• Live courts streams and live scores will be available for the matches with links posted on VirginiaSports.com
• Admission is free

ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND SCHEDULE

• Friday, Jan. 26, 12 p.m.: 1-seed Virginia (4-0) vs. 4-seed Texas Tech (1-0)
• Friday, Jan. 26, 3 p.m.: 2-seed Georgia Tech (0-1) vs 3-seed Wisconsin (2-0)
• Saturday, Jan. 27, 3:30 p.m. – women’s championship match
• Saturday, Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m. – women’s consolation

ABOUT ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND

• The ITA Kickoff Weekend is one of the marquee events of the spring season bringing together the top 60 men’s and women’s college tennis teams for a weekend of intense competition. Hosted by 15 men’s and women’s programs from across the country, the ITA Kickoff Weekend is an early-season test for teams against programs they might not typically face
• Not just playing for pride, the stakes will be high for Kickoff Weekend play as all 120 competing teams are looking to be just one of the 15 teams from each gender to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships
• Each season, the ITA Kickoff Weekend field is determined by the ITA Kickoff Weekend Draft which is held in the summer months after the dual-match season. The top 15 ranked teams in the final ITA Rankings of the season automatically serve as hosts for both men’s and women’s teams
• In the draft, teams and coaches have the opportunity to choose where they would like to play. The picks start with the No. 16 ranked team and conclude with the No. 60 ranked team (or until all 60 spots are filled)
• With four teams playing at each host site, the winning teams from the opening round will meet in the second round to determine who advances to the 2024 ITA National Team Indoor Championships
• The winner of the Charlottesville regional will earn a spot in the 37^th Annual ITA National Team Indoor Championships, being held Feb. 9-12 in Seattle, Wash.
• The UVA men are also hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend matches and will be playing the preliminary round before the women’s matches on Saturday

CAVALIER NOTES

• Virginia moved up one slot to No. 11 in this week’s ITA Collegiate Tennis Coaches Poll
• Virginia opened play last weekend with two doubleheader sweeps to come into the tournament with a 4-0 record
• The Cavaliers have five players with double-digit singles victories this year, led by Sara Ziodato with a 15-4 mark along with Hibah Shaikh (14-4), Mélodie Collard (14-6), Annabelle Xu (12-5) and Natasha Subhash (12-3)
• Shaikh and Subhash are 9-1 as a doubles team with a 3-0 mark in dual matches
• Virginia is looking to advance to ITA Indoors for the third straight year
• Last year, UVA topped South Carolina 4-1 in the final to advance
• Georgia Tech and Wisconsin had back-to-back picks (5 and 6) in the ITA Kickoff Weekend draft
• Georgia Tech was ranked No. 20 in last week’s rankings, but has fallen out of the top 25. Wisconsin is No. 24
• This is the first meeting between Virginia and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are picked sixth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll. Last season, the Lady Raiders collected 14 wins on the year, five of those being against ranked opponents, including a top-20 victory against the Kansas Jayhawks. Texas Tech finished tied for fifth in the Big 12 last season and made their 11th-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament
• UVA is 1-3 against the Badgers. The two teams last faced one another in 1997. Virginia’s last victory against Wisconsin was in 1994
• The Cavaliers are 27-16 against the Yellow Jackets. UVA has won the last three meetings against their fellow ACC school

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers play at No. 5 Michigan on Saturday, Feb. 3 at noon in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Sweet 16 contest