Women’s Tennis Central: ITA Kickoff Weekend

Saturday, January 23

Columbus, Ohio

Noon ET

University of Tennessee

Virginia

Photo by: Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics

January 22, 2021 | Women's Tennis

By: Ricky Martinez

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee women's tennis team travels to Columbus, Ohio for their ninth ITA Kickoff weekend, hosted by Ohio State.

The Lady Vols (3-0) open the weekend against No. 10-ranked Virginia (0-0) on Saturday at noon ET.

The winner of Saturday's contest between UT and the Cavaliers face the winner of No. 13-ranked Ohio State (0-0) and Syracuse (0-0) at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. A consolation match will take place on Sunday at 10 a.m. ET.

The overall victor of the weekend will advance to the Oracle ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Feb. 5-7 at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

The Lady Vols are 10-6 all-time in the ITA Kickoff weekend, defeating Kansas but falling to Virginia in last year's tournament. UT looks to advance on to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship for the first time since 2012.

Coverage: A complete recap of the ITA Kickoff Weekend will be posted to UTSports.com following each dual match. You can follow @Vol_WTennis on Twitter for live updates.

Last Time Out: UT picked up a 5-2 win over the Furman Paladins to move to 3-0 to open the 2021 campaign.

The Lady Vols picked up a pair of doubles wins and singles wins on courts 2-5. Senior Tenika McGiffin moved to 3-0 in dual match play with a quick dismantling of Madison Dillon on court three, 6-0, 6-1.

No. 55-ranked junior Rebeka Mertena downed Julia Adams on court two in straight sets (6-1, 6-4). The Liepaja, Latvia product holds a 3-0 dual match record heading into the ITA Kickoff weekend. Mertena partnered with junior Julie Ball in doubles play on court three, downing MaryAnn Rompf and Georgie Walker 6-2. The junior duo hold a perfect 2-0 record in dual match play.

In the Series: Saturday will mark the 12th meeting all-time between the Lady Vols and Cavaliers. UT holds a 7-4, but has lost the last three-straight matches.

UT and Virginia have met twice in the ITA Kickoff weekend event, falling in last year's matchup 4-3 and winning 2009's meeting 5-2.

UT and Ohio State have met 20 times with the Orange and White holding a 16-4 advantage all time. The Lady Vols won 13-straight matches from 1987-2013.

Tennessee and Syracuse have never met in women's tennis.

In the Rankings
Singles
11 - Natasha Subhash (UVA)
47 - Rosie Johanson (UVA)
52 – Rebeka Mertena (UT)
78 - Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU)
80 - Emma Navarro (UVA)
81- Guzal Yusupova (SU)
85 – Johanna Silva (UT)
91 - Sofia Munera (UVA)
104 - Amber Odell (UVA)
118 – Carly Briggs (UT)
121 - Viktoriya Kanapatskaya (SU)

Doubles
31 - Vivian Glozman/Rosie Johanson (UVA)
42 - Irina Cantos Siemers/Kolie Allen (OSU)

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