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Morgina, Stojic Set to Compete in ITA All-American Qualifying
Seniors Look to Reach Main Draw at ITA Grand Slam Event
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Anya
Morgina and Dijana Stojic from the South Carolina women’s tennis team
will play in the qualifying draw of the ITA/Riviera All-American
Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif., starting Tuesday.
The
ITA/Riviera All-American Championships are the first of three ITA Grand
Slam tournaments. The second is the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate
Indoor Championships in November and the third is the season-ending
NCAA Singles Championship in May.
Prior to the qualifying draw,
64 players compete in a pre-qualifying draw for eight spots in the
qualifying draw. Morgina and Stojic automatically reached the
qualifying draw by virtue of their Nos. 30 and 68 national rankings.
Like pre-qualifying, players in the qualifying draw must win three
straight matches to earn one of eight spots in the main draw that
consists of 32 competitors.
“This is the second biggest
tournament of the year, the NCAA individual tournament being the
biggest,” head coach Arlo Elkins said. “It’s a real honor for them and
an honor for a school to be sending players out there.”
Stojic
owns a 5-1 record in singles this fall. She posted a 3-0 mark at the
Milwaukee Tennis Classic and was named the co-singles runner-up at the
event along with teammate Jaklin Alawi. Stojic reached the finals of
her flight at the Furman Fall Classic and lost in three sets for her
lone setback on the year.
“I’m so excited to play the
tournament,” Stojic said. “It’s a huge tournament for me, and I’m so
glad I could make it my senior year. I don’t expect, honestly, anything
big. We will just go there and give everything as always and try to win
every match.”
Morgina stands at 4-2 through the Gamecocks’ first
two tournaments this fall. She earned the singles champion trophy in
Milwaukee and earned a win over the nation’s No. 35-ranked player in
the process. At Furman, Morgina rebounded from losses in her first two
matches to defeat No. 31 Brynn Boren of Tennessee in her final contest.
“(This
tournament), it’s very important to me and I’m sure it’s very important
to Dijana as well as our coaches,” Morgina said. “It’s very
prestigious. I would really love to complete the qualifying and enter
the main draw. This is my biggest goal so far.”
Morgina and
Stojic are the first Gamecocks to compete in the ITA/Riviera
All-American Championships since Gira Schofield and Ana Marija Zubori
made appearances in the qualifying singles and doubles draws in 2007.
Current associate head coach Katarina Petrovic is the last South
Carolina player to earn a spot in the main draw, doing so in 2000.
Petrovic and Rita Winebarger are the only Gamecocks to reach the round
of 16, a feat accomplished in 1999 by Petrovic and 1986 by Winebarger.
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