Bittles and Griffin to Compete at National Indoor Championships
6/21/1999 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
January 14, 1999
PRINCETON, N.J - Lorraine Bittles and Meg Griffin will join top college tennis players in the nation next month at the 22nd Annual Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. This tournament is the third leg of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Collegiate Grand Slam hosted by Southern Methodist University at the Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, February 4-7.
Bittles, a junior from Nashville, Tenn., and Griffin, a senior from Topeka, Kan., were an at-large selection in doubles. They are No. 16 in the latest ITA Rankings.
The Rolex National Intercollegiates, which began in 1978 and are being held in Dallas for the sixth straight year, 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 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 National Intercollegiate Championships.
The Rolex National Indoor Championships have proven to be a launching pad for our country's aspiring tennis talent. Current and past touring professionals who have competed in the Rolex National Intercollegiates include Nicole Arendt, Jay Berger, Ken Flach, Brad Gilbert, Debbie Martin, Paul Haaruis, Ginger Helgeson, Luke Jenson, Rick Leach, Gretchen Rush Magers, Todd Martin, Patrick McEnroe, Jared Palmer, Mikael Pernfors, Lisa Raymond, Richey Reneberg, Robert Seguso and WaliVai Washington. Washington (Michigan '89) and Martin (Northwestern '90) faced each other in the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1996. Raymond, who won the women's singles title in '92 while at Florida, has been ranked as high as No. 15 in the world.
