Sept. 25, 2001
SAN DIEGO - Santa Clara University is one of 16 schools from across country that will be compete in the 2001 World TeamTennis (WTT) National Collegiate Tennis Championships, administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, at the Barnes Tennis Center Friday through Sunday. The University of San Diego and San Diego State are serving as co-hosts for this year's event, which will mark the third-ever co-ed intercollegiate national tennis championship at the Division I level.
The men's team will be represented by senior Victor Camargo and junior Michael Bruggemann, while the women's team is sending junior Christine Limbers and freshman Janalle Kaloi. Men's head coach Sean Burns will oversee the foursome this weekend.
Pool play will begin for the Broncos on Friday against Fresno State at 10 a.m., followed by Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. On Saturday, SCU will compete against Princeton to close out pool play. Semifinal action will begin that afternoon. Third through 15th-place matches will begin on Sunday at 9 a.m. and the tournament will conclude with the championship match at 10:30 a.m.
Also scheduled to participate in this year's event are Alabama, Arizona, BYU, UC-Irvine, Loyola Marymount, Oklahoma City, host schools San Diego and San Diego State, 2000 champion South Alabama, Southern Methodist, 1999 champion Texas A&M and Winthrop.
The field for the WTT National Collegiate Tennis Championships is made up qualifiers from WTT Regional Tournaments held last season, national at-large selections based on combined season-ending ITA national rankings, and the champion from last season's WTT National Small College Championships (NAIA Oklahoma City).
The teams will use the WTT format at these national championships. The team tennis concept, originated by Billie Jean King and Larry King, features teams comprised of at least two men, two women and a coach. Each team match consists of five sets, with one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. One point is awarded for each game won. A nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches five all. If necessary, overtime and a "Supertiebreaker" are played to determine the outright winner of the match.
With the addition of this collegiate event, the WTT format is now used at all levels of play including juniors, collegiate, adult recreational and professional.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, 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 ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings for men's and women's tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship.
