College Tennis News - Bulldogs Set To Compete in New York and California

ATHENS-----Georgia will close out the fall tournament season this weekend as a contingent heads to New York for the USTA/ITA National Indoors while a pair will be in California for the Jack Kramer Invitational.

Bulldog sophomore Lauren Herring along with juniors Maho Kowase and Kate Fuller are part of the elite field who will be competing at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The event, set for Nov. 8-11, will be held at the USTA Billie Jean National King Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Hosted by Columbia University, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for women and men.

Herring, who sports a 15-1 record this fall and No. 53 ranking, secured a spot in the singles draw by winning the ITA Southeast Regional last month in Tampa. Kowase, who is ranked No. 37, received a wild card after posting a 16-3 mark this year. The Herring-Fuller tandem will be in the doubles after claiming the ITA Southeast Regional title. They are 12-3 and ranked No. 30.

“We’re wrapping up the fall season, and I’m pleased with how we’ve competed so far, and we want to finish strong,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. “The top players from around the county will be at the National Indoors, and we’re thrilled that Lauren, Maho and Kate have earned spots in the field. Also, Lilly (Kimbell) and Makenzie (Craft) will have a chance to play one more time this fall, and they get to do that in California against a good field too.”

The singles draw at the National Indoors features seven of the top 10 players from the Campbell/ITA preseason rankings. Twenty-two schools are represented in the draw and seven schools have multiple players in the draw. The doubles field is highlighted by the defending USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Kaitlyn Christian and Santamaria of USC. The Women of Troy duo, ranked No. 1 in the Campbell/ITA Women’s Doubles Rankings, collected another national title earlier this fall by claiming the ITA/Riviera Women’s All-American Championships.

Ken Thomas of RadioTennis.com will be in New York and on site throughout the week starting Thursday, providing a live broadcast beginning at 10:15 am ET each day. This is the third year for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships to be held at the home of the US Open. In an effort to draw more awareness to the event, this year’s Championships was pushed back a week to not conflict with the annual New York City Marathon. That decision proved to be wise with Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast last week.

For complete coverage of the 2012 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, including access to draws, live scores and more, please visit the official ITA event page: http://www.itatennis.com/Events/USTA-ITA-Championships-Events/NationalIndoors.htm

Also, fans can follow the ITA on Twitter, @ITAtennis, for updates and news from Flushing. Use the hashtag #NationalIndoors for all tweets in regards to the event, or search the term "NationalIndoors" to find others who are tweeting from the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The tournament begins Thursday at 9 a.m. with two rounds of doubles and one round of singles.

Meanwhile in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., Bulldog junior Lilly Kimbell and freshman Makenzie Craft will be playing in the second annual Jack Kramer Collegiate Invitational from Nov. 9-11. The tournament features players from nine different schools (Baylor, Georgia, Loyola Marymount, Miss. State, Penn State, Pepperdine, UCLA, USC-San Diego and Utah).

Craft is 7-5 in singles this fall while Kimbell is 1-4. This will be their first tournament as a doubles team. Overall, the Bulldogs are 50-18 in singles this fall and 21-5 in doubles.