February 4, 1999

DALLAS - Senior Meg Griffin (Topeka, Kan./Topeka West) and junior Lorraine Bittles (Nashville, Tenn./Brentwood Academy) became the first Terps to qualify for the Rolex National Indoor Championships, but they were given the unenviable task of facing the nation's No. 1 doubles team in the first round. All-ACC selections last season, Bittles and Griffin (No. 16, ITA), lost to Vanessa Castellano and Marissa Catlin of the University of Georgia, 6-1, 6-1.

The Rolex National Intercollegiates feature a 32-player singles field and a 16-team doubles field for men and women, including qualifiers from Division 1 ITA Regional Championships held across the country during the fall, the Rolex National Small College champions, the winners of the first two legs of the 1998-99 ITA Collegiate Grand Slam (the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court and All-American Championships) and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 5,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the ITA Regional and Rolex Intercollegiate Championships.

Maryland opens the 1999 dual season on Sunday against Georgetown in Potomac, Md. beginning at 1:00 p.m.