Hogs set to begin ITA Kick-Off Weekend

FAYETTEVILLE — The 18th-ranked Razorback women’s team will be hosting the second annual ITA Kick-Off this weekend as part of the first and second rounds of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The Razorbacks, who are coming off a strong weekend by sweeping a doubleheader from Oklahoma State and Saint Louis University, will be one of the 15 host schools and number one seeds in this weekend’s tournament.

“We’re looking forward to hosting the first two rounds of the national team indoors this weekend,” said head coach Michael Hegarty. “With the three teams coming in, it brings together a great quartet of teams with each ranked in the top 25 and each team wanting to advance to the sweet sixteen”

Along with the Razorbacks (2-0), playing this weekend will be the no. 23 Washington Huskies, no. 19 Michigan Wolverines and fellow-SEC rival, no. 16 South Carolina Gamecocks. With the exception of South Carolina, Arkansas has never competed in a match against Washington or Michigan.

The winner of two straight matches will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships to be played at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wis.

The weekend’s first match will be on Friday at 10 a.m. when Michigan faces off against South Carolina. The Razorbacks will follow that against Washington at 3 p.m. Every match will be played at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center and each team is guaranteed at least two matches as the winners and losers of Friday’s matches will play each other on Saturday. The consolation match will be at 10 a.m. and the championship match at 2 p.m.

In terms of individual play for the Razorbacks, the doubles team of sophomore Kate Lukomskaya and freshman Kelsey Sundaram come into this weekend on a hot streak as they were able to win both opening matches last weekend, 8-0, and achieve a rare doubles double bagel.

Live stats will be available for all matches throughout the weekend, as well as full results will be posted on ArkansasRazorbacks.com