Gustavus Adolphus College is hosting one of the 58 Wilson/ITA Regional Championships played across the country. The Women’s Division III Midwest Region Championships will take place Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25.
The Wilson/ITA Women’s Division III Championships at Gustavus will feature the top 15 schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend’s tournament advance to the Oct. 13-16 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.
Seventy-five of the top singles and doubles players in the Midwest will take part in the tournament which will begin with singles matches on Friday morning at 9 am. Elizabeth Maclellan of Wheaton College (Ill.) is the #1 seed in the singles draw. Other seeds include second seeded Megan Tiegs of the College of Saint Benedict, third seeded Sarah Russell of Carleton, and fourth seeded Lauren Hom of Gustavus. The doubles competition will begin on Friday afternoon immediately after the completion of the second round of singles play. Lauren Hom and Marla Menne of Gustavus are the #1 seeded team. Other seeds include the second seeded team of Elizabeth Maclellan and Jordan Hook of Wheaton, the third seeded team of Amanda Santa Romana and Elizca Buys of Carthage, and the fourth seeded team of Sarah Russell and Erin Koch of Carleton. All ITA Midwest Region matches will be played at the Swanson Indoor Tennis Center and the Brown Outdoor Courts which are located on the west edge of the Gustavus campus.
The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men’s and women’s singles and doubles national champions in each of the ITA’s four small college divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College). These championships are the only national tournaments for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA level, and the only tournaments that combine all levels of Junior/Community Colleges (NJCAA Divisions I-III, and California Community Colleges). Participants are determined through these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships, which serve as qualifying tournaments. The national champions from each division square off in the “Super Bowl” of Small College Tennis to determine the overall ITA National Small College Champions (who then earn berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, a Division I event, in November).
As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the USTA, and the ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.