Wolverines to Host ITA Kick-Off

» No. 14-ranked Michigan will begins dual-match action this weekend when it hosts the ITA Kick-Off with a berth to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on the line.
» Joining U-M at the Varsity Tennis Center will be No. 12 UCF, Utah and Ole Miss.
» The Wolverines are looking for their 10th berth in the last 11 seasons to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. U-M is hosting the event after playing last year's version at Ole Miss.

THIS WEEK
Sat-Sun, Jan. 25-26 -- host, ITA Kick-Off (Varsity Tennis Center)
Saturday, Jan. 25 -- vs. Ole Miss, 11 a.m.
Sunday, Jan. 26 -- vs. No. 12 UCF or Utah, 10 a.m./1 p.m.
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The No. 14-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team (0-0) begins the dual-match portion of its schedule this weekend (Sat-Sun., Jan. 25-26) when it hosts the ITA Kick-Off at the Varsity Tennis Center. Joining U-M at the VTC will be No. 12 UCF (1-0), Utah (5-0) and Ole Miss (2-0). The Wolverines will take on Ole Miss on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 11 a.m, then will face either UCF or Utah on Sunday (Jan. 26) and 10 a.m. or 1 p.m.

About the ITA Kickoff

The No. 1-seeded team (Michigan) at each site will face the No. 4 team (Ole Miss). The No. 2 team (UCF) will face the No. 3 team (Utah). Two matches are guaranteed -- the winners/losers will play the following day. The 15 schools that win both of their matches at these events will be invited to play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship from Feb. 7-10 in Chicago, Illinois.

Ranked Singles Players

No. 26 -- Giulia Pairone (U-M)
No. 34 -- Rebeka Stolmar (UCF)
No. 48 -- Sabina Machalova (Ole Miss)
No. 54 -- Marie Mattel (UCF)
No. 85 -- Andrea Cerdan (U-M)

Ranked Doubles Players

No. 3 -- Rebeka Stolmar/Marie Mattel (UCF)
No. 11 -- Valeriya Zeleva/Ksenia Kuznetsova (UCF)
No. 24 -- Madison Tattini/Whitney Hekking (Utah)
No. 57 -- Tereza Janatova/Anna Vrbenska (Ole Miss)

Wolverine Bites

• Michigan is looking for its 10th berth in the last 11 seasons to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. U-M missed the event last season after making nine straight appearances from 2010-2018.

• After playing last year's ITA Kick-Off at Ole Miss, Michigan is returning to the Varsity Tennis Center for this year's event. U-M has hosted this event in nine of the last 10 seasons.

• The Maize and Blue enters the dual-match portion of the season ranked No. 14 by the ITA. Michigan is the highest-ranked Big Ten team, with Ohio State coming in at No. 25 and Northwestern receiving votes.

• After the fall portion of the season, Michigan has a pair of ranked singles players in No. 26 Giulia Pairone and No. 85 Andrea Cerdan. Pairone won the singles title at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships this past fall, with both Pairone and Cerdan competing in singles at the ITA Fall National Championships.

• Michigan wrapped up the tournament portion of its season last weekend (Jan. 17-19), hosting the Michigan Invitational. U-M played singles and doubles matches against Ohio State, TCU and Tennessee. Junior Alyvia Jones paced the Wolverines at the event as one of two players to go 3-0 in singles. The doubles team of freshman Nicole Hammond and junior Bella Lorenzini went 2-0 to lead the Wolverines.

• The Wolverines welcome a pair of freshmen to this year's team in Andrea Cerdan and Nicole Hammond. The duo came in as the No. 15-ranked recruiting class by Tennis Recruiting. Hammond leads Michigan with 12 singles wins.

• Michigan recorded a 4-0 win over Ole Miss in the consolation match of last year's ITA Kick-Off in Oxford.

• U-M has quite the non-conference schedule, possibly facing No. 12 UCF this weekend. In addition, the Wolverines will square off against No. 2 North Carolina, No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 7 Texas, No. 20 Virginia and No. 21 Florida.

• After this weekend, the Wolverines will be back in action next Saturday (Feb. 1) at No. 2 North Carolina.