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THE ITA INDOOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
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\nThis weekend will feature eight of the top men’s Division II teams taking part in a three day tournament to crown an ITA indoor national champion.
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\nThe top seven teams from the 2024-25 Final ITA Division II National Rankings received an invite with one spot reserved for the University of Indianapolis. In the case of a decline, the next team in the rankings is selected until the field of eight is solidified.
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\nThis year’s field will consist of Barry, Flagler, West Florida, Lubbock Christian, Washburn, UT Tyler, Azusa Pacific, and Indianapolis.
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\nAction begins on Friday, with #6 seed UT Tyler taking on #3 seed West Florida, #2 seed Flagler and #7 seed Azusa Pacific, #4 seed Lubbock Christian and #5 seed Washburn, and #1 seed Barry against #8 seed Indianapolis.
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\nTeams will play three matches over the course of the weekend, with the winners from the first two days moving into a championship match to be played on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
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\nTHE START OF THE YEAR
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\nThe Patriots played two matches last week, one against Northeastern State and one against Southwestern Baptist. The Patriots won both in scores of 7-0, winning in dominant fashion as no match went to a third set on either day and only one went to a tiebreaker at any point.
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\nEARLY RECOGNITION
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\nBoth the UT Tyler men and women’s programs are ranked inside the top 25 of the ITA Preseason Coaches Poll to begin the year. The men are ranked 7th\u00a0as they look to follow up their 2025 season that saw them make the NCAA Semifinals. The women are 18th\u00a0as they look to follow up their first ever LSC Championship match appearance with another strong season.
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\nTHE FALL SLATE
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\nThe fall slate was one of the best of the Division II era for the program, with both teams sending players to the ITA Cup. The women’s pair of\u00a0Natalia Gorzny<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Yona Bancarel<\/a>\u00a0became the first Patriots women to represent the program at the ITA Cup in the Division II era, and the doubles pair of\u00a0Daniil Felker<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Carel Wessel<\/a>\u00a0along with singles player\u00a0Malo Poulesquen<\/a>\u00a0represented the men.
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\nGorzny and Bancarel finished 2-1 on the week, Felker and Wessel went 1-2, and Poulesquen also finished 2-1.
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\nA TOUGH SCHEDULE
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\nBoth sides of the tennis program will face one of the toughest schedules in the country, with the men seeing eight opponents ranked in the ITA Preseason Poll and the women seeing nine.
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\nIn those, the men will also play in the ITA Indoor National Championships on February 13-15, where they will see three total ranked teams, led off by #4 West Florida. They will play two other yet to be determined opponents, and all eight teams participating are ranked inside the top 17 in the poll. They will also face off with three consecutive top 15 opponents from March 6-12.
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\nFor the women, they will face a stretch of six consecutive top 25 teams from February 27-March 12, and will tack on three more ranked opponents during conference play alone as they face a daunting schedule.
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