The women’s tennis team will begin tournament play at the 33rd Annual Riviera ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California, on Tuesday.
The tournament began on Saturday, but the Gators were able to skip the pre-qualifying draws, which advanced them to the qualifying draws for singles and doubles play.
All of the seniors – No. 15 Anna Danilina, No. 12 Josie Kuhlman, Peggy Porter and No. 93 Brooke Austin – will compete throughout the course of the tournament. The freshmen – Victoria Emma and Katie Kubicz – will not be competing in this tournament.
The Gators will have some tough competition as they face teams such as the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina and Pepperdine University.
The top-ranked players competing in the tournament include: No. 2 Gabriela Talaba of Texas Tech University, No. 20 Meible Chi of Duke University and No. 22 Jessie Aney of the University of North Carolina.
Austin will begin in the qualifying rounds for singles play on Tuesday afternoon against No. 36 Ana Oparenovic of Arkansas. If Austin wins, she will move on to round two, which will take also take place on Tuesday.
Austin will also compete with Porter in the qualifying doubles play on Tuesday morning against No. 27 Felicity Maltby and No. 2 Gabriela Talaba of Texas Tech. Round two of play for doubles will continue on Wednesday.
Danilina and Kuhlman will begin singles play on Thursday in the main draw.
You can follow Mari Faiello on Twitter @faiello_mari, and contact her at mfaiello@alligator.org.
UF's Anna Danilina returns a ball during Florida's 6-1 win over USF on Jan. 27, 2016, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
