Emory University to Host Wilson/ITA South Region Championships

Tournament Website (for updated results, brackets and more)

The Emory University women's tennis team will play host to the Wilson/ITA South Region Championships, to be held on the Emory campus from Friday, October 2^nd through Sunday, October 4^th.

The Wilson/ITA South Region Women's Championships at Emory will feature participants from the top NCAA Division III schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend's tournament advance to the Oct. 15-18 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama.

Action will begin on Friday morning with the first round of singles matches at 9:00 AM on the Emory University campus.  The championship singles match will be held at noon on Sunday at the Woodruff Physical Education Center, followed by the doubles championship at 3:00 PM.  Fans can follow the event at the tournament website at EmoryAthletics.com, where updated results and brackets will be posted periodically throughout the tournament.

Returning Wilson/ITA South Region singles and doubles champion, and 2009 NCAA Division III singles champion Lorne McManigle of Emory University will headline the tournament as the top seed in the singles bracket.  Her teammate, Zahra Dawson is seeded second, followed by third seed Julia Wood of the University of the South, fourth seeded Lindsay Reidenbach of Emory, fifth seeded Jordan Wylie of Emory, sixth seeded Stephanie Brown of Millsaps College, seventh seeded Tshema Nash of Emory and eighth seeded Anna Beth Sanford of Rhodes College.  Kirsten Hillock (Emory), Jenny Lyles (University of the South), Daniela Schechter (Emory) and Rachel Storz (Agnes Scott College) are seeded ninth through 12^th.

Emory's McManigle and Dawson will team up as the top-seeded pair in the doubles bracket.  Emory's Nash and Amanda Wikman will be seeded second, followed by the third-seeded pairing of Liles and Michelle Flume from Sewanee and the fourth seeded duo of Rhodes' Anna Beth Sanford and Alice Havner.

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).  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 Campbell/ITA Rankings for men's and women's tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. 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.