Coker is hosting one of the 63 Wilson/ITA Regional Championships played across the country over the last three weeks of September, 27-28.
The Wilson/ITA Southeast Men’s/Women’s Championships at Coker will feature the top NCAA Division II schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend's tournament advance to the Oct. 16-19 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama.
The tournament is being held at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C., with the following schools participating: Armstrong Atlantic, Francis Marion, Columbus State, Clayton State, Georgia College and State, Augusta State, Erskine, USC-Aiken, Limestone, Lander, Carson Newman, Barton, Anderson, Mt. Olive, UNC-Pembroke, Pfeiffer, Lees-McRae, Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, Queens, and Coker.
The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men's and women's singles and doubles national champions in each of the ITA's four small college divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College). These championships are the only national tournaments for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA level, and the only tournaments that combine the levels of Junior/Community Colleges (NJCAA and the California schools). Participants are determined through these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships, which serve as qualifying tournaments. The national champions from each division square off in the "Super Bowl" of Small College Tennis to determine the overall ITA National Small College Champions (who then earn berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, a Division I event, in November).
As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit presented by the USTA, and the ITA Rankings for men's and women's tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.