ESPN3 and WatchESPN to Present 2015 National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships From NTC

November 5, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Eric C. Peck

The USTA has announced that ESPN3 and WatchESPN will deliver the men’s and women’s singles semifinals and finals of the 2015 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, Nov. 14-15, and will include mid-match, on-court interviews with players, first debuted by ESPN during the 2015 U.S. Open. The National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which features many of the country’s top men’s and women’s college players, will be played Nov. 12-15 at the USTA Billie Jean National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Defending National Indoors champ and Oyster Bay, N.Y. native Julia Elbaba (Virginia, Senior), 2014 NCAA Singles Champion Danielle Collins (Virginia, Senior) and second-ranked Brooke Austin (Florida, Sophomore) will headline the women’s singles field that includes eight of the top 10 players in the fall Oracle/ITA National Singles Rankings. The men’s singles field includes fifth-ranked Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame, Senior), a Chatham, N.J., native; and Saint Francis ITA All-American Champion Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia, Junior).

Coverage from ESPN3 and WatchESPN, available online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, begins at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 14, with the men’s and women’s singles semifinals, played consecutively. The men’s and women’s singles finals, also played one after the other, will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 15.

Patrick McEnroe and USTA National Coach, Collegiate Tennis Stephen Amritraj will serve as on-air talent for the six matches, with McEnroe conducting on-court interviews with players during set breaks, an innovation that debuted with Pam Shriver’s interview of CoCo Vandeweghe in the first round of the 2015 U.S. Open. Additionally, each player’s college coach will wear a microphone during the match.

Live scoring will be available throughout all four days of the event, on host Columbia University’s Athletics Web site, GoColumbiaLions.com. USTA.com will again host a live chat for all four days of the tournament. Ken Thomas of RadioTennis.com will also broadcast the duration of the event.

The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships were inaugurated in 1978 for the men and 1984 for the women. Past champions and finalists include James Blake (Harvard), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech), Nicole Gibbs (Stanford), John Isner (Georgia), Steve Johnson (Southern California), Jamie Loeb (North Carolina), Todd Martin (Northwestern), Lisa Raymond (Florida) and MaliVai Washington (Michigan).

The event features a 32-player singles field and 20-team doubles field for men and women, including: Men’s and Women’s champions from each of the 12 Division I USTA/ITA Regional Championships, the Men’s and Women’s USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl champion, the quarterfinalists of the ITA Men’s All-American Championships, the semifinalists from the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships and the consolation winners from both, the Oracle/ITA Masters champions, as well as at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA and USTA. Additionally, Columbia University, which is serving as the host school for the fifth consecutive year, receives a wild card entry into each draw.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Centercourt
USTA NTC

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