Wittenberg To Host Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region Womens Championships

The Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region Women’s Championships will take place Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at Wittenberg University’s David B. and Georgiana S. Albright Tennis Complex.

September 29, 2005

Kristyn Russell

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region Women’s Championships will take place Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at Wittenberg University’s David B. and Georgiana S. Albright Tennis Complex.

The Wilson/ITA Central Region Championship is one of eight regional tournaments for Division III women taking place across the country over a two-week span. The singles and doubles champions from each regional tournament advance to the Wilson/ITA National Small College Championships, presented by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Oct. 16-19, in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 2002, Wittenberg senior Casey Clagett won the men’s Central Region title and advanced to the national championships, an accomplishment that eventually earned him All-America status.

The 2005 Wilson/ITA Central Region Women’s Championships features some of the finest players in the nation. Wittenberg has a relatively young team entered this year, led by Kristyn Russell of Loveland, Ohio, class of 2006, who had a 16-4 singles record a year ago while alternating between the third and fourth singles positions. She is currently Wittenberg’s No. 1 singles player in the absence of Emily Okerson of Cincinnati, Ohio, class of 2008, the team’s No. 2 player a year ago, who is currently out of the lineup due to injury.

The Wittenberg men’s tennis team traveled to Greencastle, Ind., last weekend for the Wilson/ITA Central Region Men’s Championships at DePauw University. The Tigers’ best finish was turned in by No. 1 singles and doubles player Shane Hutton of Charleston, W.Va., class of 2006, who won a pair of singles matches and a doubles match.

The Wilson/ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men’s and women’s singles and doubles national champions in NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges. As the governing body and coaches association 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, as well as official rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels.

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