Women’s Tennis to Compete in ITA Kickoff Weekend

MALIBU, Calif. – The Arkansas women’s tennis team is set to travel to Malibu, California, to compete in the 2020 ITA Kickoff Weekend, beginning Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.

The Razorbacks open the weekend with a dual against Arizona at 3 p.m. CT. The winner of the match on Saturday will take on the winner of the No. 6 Pepperdine/UNLV matchup on Sunday.

The Razorbacks are 1-0 after a 5-2 win over Memphis on Saturday. In doubles action, the 34th-ranked doubles team of Tatum Rice and Lauren Alter defeated Cao/Teixido Garcia 6-2.  Martina Zerulo and Jackie Carr won at the No. 2 spot to clinch the doubles point for the Hogs, dominating in the tiebreaker 7-2. After dropping the first singles match, the Razorbacks rebounded with two straight three-set wins and sealed the win for Arkansas with a victory from Senior Jackie Car and an 8-6 tie breaker win from sophomore Laura Rijkers.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS:

Arizona heads to Malibu after suffering a 7-0 loss against Texas A&M in their season-opener on Jan. 11. The Wildcats are coming off a 12-12 2019 season, in which the team went 2-8 in Pac-12 play.

Pepperdine opened the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend last year with a 4-0 sweep of UNLV, advancing to the championship where they battled Denver to a 4-0 victory.  With the 2-0 win, the Waves advanced to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships set in Seattle. The orange and blue opened the Indoor Championships with a 4-3 victory over Syracuse, but then fell to Duke the next day in a 1-4 loss.

UNLV went on to win the Mountain West Conference Championship before upsetting No. 26 Texas Tech 4-3 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They then went on to lose 4-0 to No. 13 USC in the second round.

ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND:

This weekend marks the 12th annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend set to beginning Friday at 26 separate facilities across the U.S.

This weekend will feature 60 teams per gender traveling to 15 host sites to compete, with four teams receiving the right to host both genders.

 The 15 regional host institutions will welcome three other teams for a single-elimination event. The winners will advance to the National Team Indoors, which will be hosted in Illinois ensuring an automatic bid into the championships.

COVERAGE:

Live streaming and scoring will be available here, along with any and all scoring updates posted on Twitter at @RazorbackWTEN.