Jan. 24, 2014

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Mizzou tennis team travels to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Tigers open competition on Saturday, Jan. 25 against Harvard at 9 a.m. CT at the Ring Tennis Complex. The squad will then play either No. 2 Florida or Louisville on Sunday, Jan. 26.

This season marks the third consecutive year Missouri was invited to participate in the ITA National Indoor Tournament. The Tigers were one of 60 schools to be invited to participate in the tournament, which is determined based on final ITA rankings from the 2012-13 campaign.

As the No. 2 seed at the Gainesville site, Mizzou faces three-seed Harvard in the opening match. Florida, the No. 1 seed, faces four-seed Louisville simultaneously. The winners will meet at Sunday, Jan. 26 at 9 a.m. CT. The consolation match will be played at 8 a.m. CT. The winner of the Sunday's championship match advances to the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships to compete in the 16-team event held Feb. 7-10 in Charlottesville, Va.

The Tigers are coming of a season opening doubleheader on Jan. 20. Missouri dispatched Saint Louis and SIUE by identical 6-1 scores at the Green Tennis Center. Four Tigers won both their singles matches that day: senior Cierra Gaytan-Leach, sophomore Kelli Hine and freshmen Cassidy Spearman and Tracy Dong. Addtionally, Gaytan-Leach and Spearman won both their No. 1 doubles matches on the day.

Following the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Missouri travels to North Carolina to take on North Carolina State (Saturday, Feb. 1) and Wake Forest (Sunday, Feb. 2).