January 22, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
The 2015 spring season shifts into high gear on Jan. 23-25 for the Seventh Annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend. One-hundred-twenty teams—60 men's and 60 women's—will compete across the country for berths in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February. The ITA Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championships will be hosted by the University of Virginia at Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, VA, while the ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor Championships will be hosted by the University of Illinois at Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago.
The ITA Kick-Off Weekend sends three visiting schools to a host site for a four-team tournament. The host school faces the number four seed and the number two seed plays the number three seed. The winners of those matches will come back the following day with a ticket to the 2015 ITA National Team Indoor Championships at stake, and the losers compete in a consolation match. A total of 22 universities will host this year's ITA Kick-Off Weekend, with eight schools hosting both men's and women's events.
Each of the ITA Division I Men's Team Rankings Top 10 teams is a host, while eight of the women's Top 10 are hosting. The Virginia women, currently ranked fifth in the ITA Division I Women's Team Rankings, received automatic entry into February's championships by serving as host site for the event. Illinois (number 11) will host the ITA Division I Men's National Team Indoor Championships, and in turn, will not be competing this weekend.
The highest rated and potentially most combative men's pod is hosted by Notre Dame. The 14th-ranked Fighting Irish host number 16 Columbia, number 17 Tennessee and number 24 Oklahoma State. Duke and Kentucky also host groups that consist of four top 30 teams. On the women's side, number 18 Georgia Tech hosts the toughest group with number 19 Oklahoma State, number 29 Texas Tech and number 38 Columbia all traveling to Atlanta.
