Women's Tennis Receives ITA Rankings, All-American Championships Selections
9/8/2014 2:44:00 PM | Women's Tennis
SKILLMAN, N.J. – With the 2014 fall slate less than two weeks away, the Columbia women's tennis team received national recognition by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) who announced the 2014-15 preseason rankings as four Lions were recognized. Along with the ITA preseason rankings, the selections for the 2014 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships were announced.
In the rankings, the top-125 players were released while the top-6o pairs were named in doubles. Junior Kanika Vaidya is the highest ranked player in the Ivy League coming in at No. 85 after going 21-11 a year ago as the Lions' ace.
Sophomore Tina Jiang, who posted an undefeated 18-0 mark in the dual season her first year in Columbia Blue, came in No. 102. All but three of the Bridgewater, New Jersey, native's wins in 2014 came in straight sets.
In doubles, Jiang and senior Crystal Leung were picked No. 19 after finishing the 2014 campaign ranked 47th with a 31-6 mark. The newly formed senior/first-year partnership of Vaidya and Rima Asatrian land 41st on the national list.
For the 30th year, the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, California will serve as the host site for the Rivera/ITA Women's All-American Championships. The national event is set to being on Saturday, Sept. 27 with pre-qualifying singles and doubles matches, which will once again be hosted by UCLA. Main draw action is slated for Thursday, Oct. 2 – through Sunday, Oct. 5 at the Riviera Tennis Club.
Vaidya is among the qualifying singles for the All-American Championships while Jiang made it as prequalifying singles. The pair of Leung and Jiang will head to the Golden State with a spot in the doubles main draw while Vaidya and Astrian are on the alternate list.
The Lions head to Kansas City, Missouri, Sept. 19 to start its 2014 fall schedule at the Missou Tennis Invite where Columbia will face competition from the host Missouri, Mississippi State and Nebraska.
