Gustavus Adolphus College is hosting the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championship at the Swanson Indoor Tennis Center and the Brown Outdoor Courts this weekend. The Men’s Division III Midwest Region Championships will take place Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2.
The Wilson/ITA Men’s Division III Championships at Gustavus will feature the top 20 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.
Ninety-two 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. Loren Collins of Gustavus Adolphus is the #1 seed in the singles draw. Other seeds include second seeded Adam Morgan of Gustavus, third seeded Miguel Yunes of Carthage, and fourth seeded Brad Livingston of Carthage. The doubles competition will begin on Friday afternoon immediately after the completion of the second round of singles play. Adam Morgan and Brett Morse-Karzen of Gustavus are the #1 seeded team and two-time defending champions. Other seeds include the second seeded team of Miguel Yunes and Brad Livingston of Carthage, the third seeded team of Roy Bryan and Andy Bryan of Gustavus, and the fourth seeded team of Jono Martin and Brad Nelson of Luther. 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.