CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fall tennis action continues for three Fighting Illini this weekend as McKenna Schaefbauer heads north to compete at the ITA Sectional Championships, while Megan Heuser and Alice Xu are set to play at the ITA Conference Masters Championships. Sectionals are being hosted by Michigan at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, while Conference Masters Championships are taking place at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia.
ITA SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
McKenna Schaefbauer will face Iowa's Tereza Dejnozkova in Round of 32 singles on Thursday with action slated for 9 a.m. CT.
Only players and doubles teams who have yet to earn entry into the NCAA Championships and have made deep runs at the ITA All-American or ITA Regional Championships are eligible to participate.
The 2024 ITA Sectional Championships feature a 32-player singles draw. From there, six singles players from each section (24 total) will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship (semifinalists and two quarterfinal playoff winners).Â
Matches played on the upper courts will be streamed on Michigan's Playsight cameras. Live scoring for the North Courts can be found HERE and the South Courts HERE.
The Central Sectional Championships include teams from the Midwest, Central, and Texas regions. Schools represented at the VTC are Michigan, Texas A&M, TCU, Memphis, Baylor, Ohio State, Iowa, Texas Tech, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Iowa State, Illinois, Houston, Texas, Northwestern, and Kansas State.
Schedule of play:
Thursday - Singles Round of 32 - 9 a.m. CT
Friday - Singles Round of 16 - 9 a.m. CT
       Single Consolation Round of 16 - 9 a.m. CT (indoors)
Saturday -Â Singles Quarterfinals - 9 a.m. CT
         Singles Consolation Quarterfinals - 9 a.m. CT
         Singles Consolation Semifinals - 11 a.m. CT
Sunday -Â Singles Quarterfinal Playoff - 9 a.m. CT
            Singles Semifinals - 9 a.m. CT
        Singles Consolation Final - 9 a.m. CT
               Singles Final - 11 a.m. CT
ITA CONFERENCE MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
No. 9-ranked Megan Heuser and Alice Xu open play in Georgia at 4:30 p.m. CT Thursday evening against NJIT's duo of Irene Cocero and Laura Wipfli in the Round of 32. The Illini duo represents the Big Ten at the event, with tandems representing 32 conferences.
Doubles scoring will use the best two of three sets with a 10-point match tiebreak in lieu of a full third set, no ad scoring.
From the initial doubles draw of 32 teams, three doubles teams (3) will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship through the Conference Masters (champion, finalist, third place).Â
LIVE SCORING & VIDEO
- Courts 11-16 and 20-25 are live-streamed through PlaySight (linked here)
- Courts 17-19 are live-streamed through TrackTennis (linked here)
- Chaired matches will be live-scored through iOnCourt (linked here)
Schedule of play:
Thursday - Doubles Round of 32
Friday - Doubles Round of 16
       Doubles Consolation Round of 16
           Doubles Quarterfinals
           Doubles Consolation Quarterfinals
Saturday -Â Doubles Semifinals
             Doubles Consolation Semifinals
Sunday -Â Doubles Final
           Doubles 3/4 Playoff
           Doubles Consolation Final
