Sept. 25, 2001
SAN DIEGO - Sixteen of the premiere collegiate men's and women's tennis programs in the nation will be competing in the third annual World TeamTennis National Collegiate Tennis Championships at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego September 28-30. San Diego State University and the University of San Diego will co-host the event which is making its first appearance in Southern California.
The field for the World TeamTennis Tournament is made up of qualifiers from regional tournaments held last season, national at-large selections based on combined season-ending Intercollegiate Tennis national rankings and the champion from last season's WTT National Small College Championships.
In addition to the Aztecs and Toreros, the other 14 teams that will make up the field for the three-day event are: Alabama, Arizona, Brigham Young, Fresno State, Loyola Marymount, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State, Princeton, Santa Clara, South Alabama, SMU, Texas A&M, UC Irvine and Winthrop.
The teams will use the WTT format during the event. 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 super-tiebreaker are played to determine the outright winner of the match.
Some of the nation's top players are scheduled to appear including San Diego State's Oliver Maiberger, ranked 13th in the country in the preseason ITA rankings. Arizona's Steven Capriati, younger brother of Jennifer Capriati, is one of 12 nationally ranked men's singles players represented in the 16-team field. Fresno State's Kim Niggemeyer is ranked 18th in the women's singles rankings and leads a list of 10 nationally-ranked players on the women's side. Billy Jean King is scheduled to attend this weekend's championship.
On Friday and Saturday, all 16 teams will be in action in matches beginning at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The championship concludes on Sunday with matches set to begin at 9 a.m., except for the championship match which will start at 10:30 a.m. All matches will be played at the Barnes Tennis Center and are free to the public.
Tournament Schedule
Friday, Sept. 28
Pool First Round - All matches begin at 9 a.m.
Pool A: Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma City
Pool A: San Diego vs. Brigham Young
Pool B: South Alabama vs. Winthrop
Pool B: Arizona vs. San Diego State
Pool C: Fresno State vs. Santa Clara
Pool C: Oklahoma State vs. Princeton
Pool D: Alabama vs. UC Irvine
Pool D: SMU vs. Loyola Marymount
Friday, Sept. 28
Pool Second Round - All matches begin at 2 p.m.
Pool A: Texas A&M vs. Brigham Young
Pool A: San Diego vs. Oklahoma City
Pool B: South Alabama vs. San Diego State
Pool B: Arizona vs. Winthrop
Pool C: Fresno State vs. Princeton
Pool C: Oklahoma State vs. Santa Clara
Pool D: Alabama vs. Loyola Marymount
Pool D: SMU vs. UC Irvine
Saturday, Sept. 29
Pool Third Round - All matches begin at 9 a.m.
Pool A: Texas A&M vs. San Diego
Pool A: BYU vs. Oklahoma City
Pool B: South Alabama vs. Arizona
Pool B: San Diego State vs. Winthrop
Pool C: Fresno State vs. Oklahoma State
Pool C: Princeton vs. Santa Clara
Pool D: Alabama vs. SMU
Pool D: Loyola Marymount vs. UC Irvine
Saturday, Sept. 29
Bracket Semifinals - All matches begin at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 30
3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th-place matches begin at 9 a.m.
Sunday, Sept. 30
Championship Match begins at 10:30 a.m.