The NCAA News - News and Features

May 5, 1997

Division III

Emory vying to become the first team to capture back-to-back titles

Event: 1997 Division III Women's Tennis Championships.

Overview: Emory is trying to do what no team has managed to do in the championships' 15-year history: win consecutive team titles. Emory, which claimed 19 of its first 22 matches, will defend its position behind the play of Alexa Wilensky, Adrian Poole, Katie Kirschbaum and Julie Sterner. Wilensky and Poole are the squad's top singles players, registering 19 wins each, while Kirschbaum and Sterner combined to win 15 of 22 doubles matches .... Kenyon, which saw its bid for back-to-back titles end at the hands of Emory in 1996, will try to return the favor. The Ladies, who lost to Emory in semifinal action and placed third in 1996, are led by Caryn Cuthbert, Alison St. Vincent and Erin Hockman. St. Vincent and Hockman form the squad's top doubles team .... Emory and Kenyon won't be the only teams battling for the team title. Amherst, Trinity (Texas) and Skidmore are the nation's Nos. 3-, 4- and 5-ranked teams, and all are seeking their first championship. Trinity, fourth in 1996, is paced by Laura Brady, Lola Taylor and Vanessa. Skidmore is led by Jamie Levine, who finished runner-up to Dina Dajani of Redlands for the 1996 singles title. Amherst, which lost to Emory in quarterfinal play last year, looks to Pam Diamond and Laura Keith to lead the way.

Field: The team-championship field includes 14 teams; the individual championships include 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams. Two teams from each of four regions (East, Midwest, South and West) will receive automatic berths; the remaining six teams will be selected at large. A minimum of one singles player and one doubles team will be selected from each of the four regions.

Dates and sites: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps will serve as host for the championships May 6-12. The team championship will be May 6-9; singles and doubles competition will be May 10-12.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1559 for dates and sites, 1560 for bracket/schedule, 5256 for qualifiers, 5257 through 5260 for team results, and 5261 through 5263 for individual results. Regional and championships results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championships results will be published in the May 19 issue of The NCAA News.