One of four Gators made it to the qualifying rounds in the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships pre-qualifying tournaments held in Los Angeles.
Freshman Josie Kuhlman won against Neda Koprcina from Texas (4-6, 6-0, 6-0) in the first round on Saturday. Later that day, Kuhlman won her second-round match against Virginia’s Marie Faure in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).
Kuhlman is a contender for the qualifying round after winning in the third round against Kate Vialle of North Carolina (4-2, ret.) on Sunday.
If Kuhlman wins all three of her qualifying-round matches — which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday — she will play in the main draw, which will be held Thursday through Sunday.
Freshman Peggy Porter lost in the first round in her first ITA tournament to Lucia Butkovska from the University of Portland (6-3, 6-2). Sophomore Spencer Liang opened her play by losing to Anna Mamalat from Texas A&M (6-1, 6-4) in the first round. Sophomore Belinda Woolcock also lost her first-round match to Gabrielle Smith from Southern California (6-1, 6-4).
Kuhlman and Porter defeated Maia Magill and Kristin Wiley at UCLA (8-2) Saturday morning and won again Sunday morning against Lana Groenvyeck and Pippa Horn from Texas (8-3). The pair will play in qualifying rounds.
Freshman Brooke Austin and sophomore Kourtney Keegan both earned spots in the singles qualifying draw, while junior Brianna Morgan received an automatic entry into the singles main draw Thursday through Sunday. While Austin and Morgan have been selected to the qualifying doubles list, Keegan and Woolcock received an automatic entry into the doubles main draw.
The pre-qualifying rounds consist of a singles draw of 64 and doubles draw of 32. Three rounds must be won by the individual player or doubles team to advance to the qualifying rounds, which will be held Monday through Wednesday. Qualifying rounds use the same system of three consecutive wins from the player or pair, which will then compete in the main draw Oct. 2 through Oct. 6. Eight spots are reserved for singles, and four spots are reserved for doubles.
Singles semifinalists, doubles finalists and consolation champions will receive automatic entry into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Nov. 6-9 in Flushing Meadows, NY.
The ITA Riviera Women’s All-American Tennis Championship considers the 1995 play between Florida’s Jill Craybas and Tzipora Obziler from Old Dominion as one of the greatest performances in the tournament’s history. They split the first two sets, as each took a tiebreaker by the score of seven points to four. Each player held their own, but it was Craybas who finally won 7-5 to take home the title. The match holds the record for most games played in a championship match. Craybas continued her excellent play to win the 1996 NCAA Singles Championships.
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Freshman Josie Kuhlman (pictured) advanced to the second round of the NCAA Singles competition Wednesday. Out of five Gators who competed, she and sophomore Belinda Woolcock were the only two to advance.
