The University of Georgia will serve as a host for an ITA Kickoff Weekend in January 2017. The UGA women’s event is slated for Jan. 28-29, and the Bulldogs will be joined by New Mexico, Illinois and Georgia State at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
The ITA Kickoff Weekend was created in 2009 as a qualifier for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Sixty schools compete for the remaining 15 spots in the national tournament, with a reserved spot for the host institution. After ITA Kickoff Weekend host sites are named, a draft is held with schools selecting which site to play at in order of year-end ITA team rankings.
The Nos. 1 and 4 seeds and the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds will play in the first round with the two winners to play a deciding second round match for a bid to the prestigious National Indoor Championships. This year’s host for the finals site will be Yale in New Haven, Conn., Feb. 10-13.
The Georgia women have won National Indoors three times (1994, ’95, ’02) and have reached the National Indoors final seven times. Georgia beat Wyoming and Old Dominion this past season to reach the finals site where it won two more matches before falling in the semifinal.
Georgia will return all but one letter winner from last season’s squad that posted a 22-5 record and No. 7 final ITA national ranking. Head coach Jeff Wallace will begin his 32nd season at the helm, and his returnees include All-SEC senior Caroline Brinson and All-Americans Ellen Perez, Kennedy Shaffer and Mariana Gould.
Additionally, the Georgia men’s team will play host to an ITA Kickoff event the same weekend, starting Friday, Jan. 27. A complete schedule of the tennis action is listed below:
2017 ITA Kickoff Weekend Schedule (All times Eastern)
Friday, Jan. 27
9 a.m. Men’s: Washington vs. Alabama
1 p.m. Men’s: Georgia vs. Purdue
Sat., Jan. 28
9 a.m. Women’s: Ga. State vs. Illinois
1 p.m. Women’s: Georgia vs. New Mexico
5 p.m. Men’s Consolation
Sunday, Jan. 29
9 a.m. Women’s Consolation
1 p.m. Men’s Championship
5 p.m. Women’s Championship