Michigan to Trek to Atlanta for ITA Kick-Off

» For the second straight season, Michigan is off to Georgia Tech for the ITA Kick-Off. Joining U-M are host Georgia Tech, Ole Miss and Old Dominion.
» U-M enters the event ranked No. 14, with Georgia Tech coming in at No. 12 as the two ranked teams participating.
» The Wolverines are looking for their 11th berth in the last 13 seasons to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.

THIS WEEK
Sat-Sun., Jan. 29-30 -- at ITA Kick-Off (Atlanta, Ga.)
Saturday, Jan. 29 -- vs. Ole Miss, 1 p.m.
Live Scoring/Video
Sunday, Jan. 30 -- vs. No. 12 Georgia Tech/Old Dominion, 10 a.m./1 p.m.
Live Scoring/Video

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 14-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team (2-0) continues dual-match action Friday and Saturday (Jan. 29-30), heading to Georgia Tech for the 2022 ITA Kick-Off. Joining U-M in Atlanta with a berth to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on the line are No. 12 Georgia Tech (0-0), Ole Miss (2-0) and Old Dominion (1-0).

About the ITA Kick-Off Weekend

The No. 1-seeded team (Georgia Tech) at each site will face the No. 4 team (Old Dominion). The No. 2 team (Michigan) will face the No. 3 team (Ole Miss). 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 Feb. 11-14 ITA National Team Indoor Championship at Wisconsin.

Ranked Singles Players

No. 17 -- Kari Miller (U-M)
No. 20 -- Tiphanie Fiquet (Ole Miss)
No. 38 -- Kylie Bilchev (Georgia Tech)
No. 69 -- Ava Hrastar (Georgia Tech)
No. 71 -- Yulia Starodubtseva (Old Dominion)
No. 80 -- Sabina Machalova (Ole Miss)
No. 85 -- Carol Lee (Georgia Tech)
No. 99 -- Julia Fliegner (U-M)
No. 106 -- Alexandra Viktorovich (Old Dominion)
No. 116 -- Tatsiana Sasnouskaya (Old Dominion)
No. 120 -- Nicole Hammond (U-M)

Ranked Doubles Teams

No. 3 -- Tatsiana Sasnouskaya/Yulia Starodubtseva (Old Dominion)
No. 8 -- Ludmila Kareisova/Kelsey Mize (Ole Miss)
No. 12 -- Kylie Bilchev/Ava Hrastar (Georgia Tech)

Wolverine Bites

• Michigan is looking for its 11th berth in the last 13 seasons to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. It is the second straight season that Michigan has traveled to Georgia Tech for the ITA Kick-Off. U-M fell to Duke in the opening round, with its consolation match against South Carolina canceled.

• A year after the ITA National Team Indoor Championship featured just eight teams, the national event is back to 16 teams. The 15 schools who go 2-0 this weekend will punch their ticket to Madison, with host Wisconsin guaranteed a spot. The national event will be held at the Nielsen Tennis Center at the University of Wisconsin, Feb. 11-14.

• U-M is coming off a 2-0 weekend with a pair of 7-0 shutouts against Western Michigan and Oakland on Saturday (Jan. 22). Michigan had a pair of players play their first career matches at No. 1 singles in Andrea Cerdan and Nicole Hammond. Both Wolverines won their matches in straight sets. U-M dropped just one singles set between the two matches.

• Michigan and Ole Miss (2-0) will meet at the ITA Kick-Off for the third time in the last four seasons. U-M got a 4-0 win in the consolation match at the 2019 edition at Ole Miss and a 4-2 first-round win at the VTC in the 2020 edition. U-M is 2-0 all-time against the Rebels.

• U-M is 1-3 all-time against Georgia Tech and has never faced Old Dominion in a dual match.

• Michigan head coach Ronni Bernstein, who enters her 15th season in Ann Arbor, is poised to become the winningest coach in program history this season. She has 287 wins at Michigan, trailing Bitsy Ritt's record of 288 victories from 1985-2006. In addition, Bernstein can become the first coach to win 300 matches at Michigan with 13 more wins this season.

• There are already six Wolverines who have recorded double-digit singles wins in Julia Fliegner (17), Nicole Hammond (12), Jaedan Brown (11), Andrea Cerdan (11), Anca Craciun (11) and Kari Miller (11). Michigan is 81-39 in singles action this season (.675), including a perfect 12-0 record in dual matches.

• The Wolverines won both doubles points last weekend, with Anca Craciun and Nicole Hammond leading the way with a 2-0 record behind a wins at No. 2 (Oakland) and No. 3 (Western Michigan). Kari Miller and Jaedan Brown went 1-0 at the top spot with a 6-0 win over WMU, with Julia Fliegner and Andrea Cerdan getting their first win together with a 6-1 win at No. 1 against Oakland.

• Gala Mesochoritou was back in dual-match play for the first time since April 20, 2021, after suffering a knee injury and missing the postseason. She got a pair of straight-set wins in singles action, coming at No. 4 (Oakland) and No. 6 (Western Michigan). She is now 16-0 all-time in singles play during dual matches.

Up Next

Saturday, Feb. 5 -- vs. North Carolina (Varsity Tennis Center), Noon