Emily Figel

Central Region Women's ITA Tournament Home Page

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region Women's Championships will take place Oct. 3-6 at Wittenberg University's Georgiana Albright Tennis Complex.

The ITA Central Region Championship is one of eight regional tournaments for Division III women taking place across the country over a two-week span. The singles and doubles champions from these regional tournaments advance to the ITA National Small College Championships, presented by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Oct. 16-19, in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 2002, Wittenberg senior Casey Clagett won the men's regional title at DePauw University in September and advanced to the national championships in October. He went on to gain All-America status.

The 2003 ITA Central Region Women's Championships features some of the finest players in the nation, including Wittenberg's top player, junior Emily Figel. She has won at least two matches in the tournament each of the last two years, and this year she enters the competition seeded No. 3 in the singles draw. In 2002, DePauw's Haley Heathman won the singles championship over her teammate, Liz Bondi. The doubles title went to Denison's top-seeded duo of Lauren Gerlach and Alison Hughes in three sets over DePauw's unseeded team of Jill Anderson and Alex Nelson.

The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men's and women's singles and doubles national champions in NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges.

As the governing body and coaches association of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was 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 official rankings for men's and women's tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels.