ITA Oracle Cup Gets Underway Thursday in Arizona

An event unique to college tennis gets underway Thursday at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex in Surprise, Arizona, as the ITA Oracle Cup will showcase many of the top players from NCAA Divisions II and III, along with Junior/Community Colleges and NAIA representatives.

Formerly known as the Small College Nationals, the ITA Oracle Cup has history dating back to 1986, and it is the only national championship event for the Division II and NAIA levels. This year, more than 8,000 players took part in a total of 60 regional tournaments to gain entry into the ITA Oracle Cup field.

Each division represented will feature eight singles players and eight doubles teams, competing in their respective draws. The singles and doubles champions from the four divisions advance to the weekend's ITA Oracle Cup semifinals and finals draws.

The four ITA Oracle Cup winners (men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles) receive wild cards into the 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, held November 3-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, New York.

Head to the ITA Oracle Cup event page to view draws, daily recaps, photo gallery links, as well as find live scoring and streaming information. FloTennis, a subscription-based company, will provide exclusive live streaming of all four days from Surprise, with up to four total courts included. This link will enable users to sign up for FloTennis and view the action at the ITA Oracle Cup. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter at our new event-specific account @ITAOracleCup and using the hashtag #ITAOracleCup.

Last year's NAIA and Super Bowl men's singles champion, Kevin Konfederak of Georgia Gwinnett, is back in 2016 to compete in both the NAIA singles and doubles draws. He'll be joined in doubles once again by teammate Jordan Cox.

Tyler Junior College's Ferran Calvo, winner of last year's JUCO men's singles draw, looks to defend his title, and also lay claim to the doubles title with Jorge Martinez.

Another Georgia Gwinnett player, this one from the women's team, also returns to the ITA Oracle Cup with visions of defending a title. Valeria Podda won last year's NAIA singles title, and is the No. 3 seed this year after falling to teammate Chiara Di Salvo in the regional final.

The Division II and Super Bowl women's doubles champions from 2015 return, as Lynn's Rosalie Willig andDiana Bogolli look to earn another trip to New York.

New champions will be crowned in Division II and III men's singles and doubles, JUCO women's singles and doubles, NAIA women's doubles, Division III women's singles and doubles, and Division II women's singles.