Jan. 10, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Players from nine of the elite college programs in the United States, including a strong contingent from host UNLV, will gather in Las Vegas this weekend for the fourth annual Freeman Memorial Women's Tennis Championships at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on campus.

Schools sending competitors are No. 1-ranked Stanford, No. 2 Florida, No. 5 Southern California, No. 12 UCLA, No. 14 Duke, No. 19 Tennessee, No. 22 South Carolina and No. 26 Arizona State. Host UNLV, ranked 41st nationally, will add four singles players and one doubles team to the field.

Action begins at 10 a.m. PST on Friday and Saturday and the finals are scheduled for Sunday, with times to be determined. Admission to all matches is free.

The event features two flights each of both singles and doubles along with consolation rounds.

Seven of the nation's top 30 players, including an impressive five of the top 10, are scheduled to compete in singles: No. 2 Anne Yelsey of Stanford, No. 3 Amanda Fink of Southern California, No. 4 Alice Barnes of Stanford, No. 8 Elena Gantcheva of homestanding UNLV and No. 10 Theresa Logar of Stanford.

The doubles field will be led by college tennis' second-ranked duo of Barnes and Yelsey of Stanford.

Last year, Georgia's Shadisha Robinson, ranked 10th, handed freshman Lejla Hodzik of Stanford her first collegiate loss, 6-3, 6-4, to take home the singles title. In doubles play, UCLA's fifth-ranked duo of Daniela Bercek and Riza Zalameda won the crown by doubling up 41st-ranked Hodzic Whitney Deason of Stanford 8-4.

In flight two, Arizona State's Jessica Leitch eased by Stanford's Joanna Kao 6-0, 6-3 to win the singles final while Blakeley Griffith and Ashley Robards of Tennessee earned the doubles title by downing Laura Ganzer and Megan McGavock of South Carolina 8-4.

In 2004, Theresa Logar of Stanford downed Aniela Mojzis of North Carolina 6-2, 6-1 in the top-flight final. The doubles championship went to Florida's Boglarka Berecz and Nina Suvak, who got by Tennessee's Sabita Maharaj and Ashley Robards 8-4.

The 2003 event featured a preview of the NCAA Singles Championship as Tennessee's Vilmarie Castellvi downed Stanford's Amber Liu 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Four months later, Liu would upset Castellvi to win the national title. Castellvi and partner Melissa Schaub also won the doubles championship at the Freeman Memorial, which was known as the Collegiate Kickoff Classic in its first year.

2006 FREEMAN MEMORIAL TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSAt Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas, NV
TEAM KEY & CURRENT NATIONAL RANKINGStanford             STAN   1Florida              UF     2Southern California  SCAL   5UCLA                 UCLA   12Duke                 DUKE   14Tennessee            UT     19South Carolina       SCAR   22Arizona State        ASU    26UNLV                 UNLV   41
SEEDING              SCHOOL     RANK1. Anne Yelsey       Stanford   22. Amanda Fink       USC        33. Alice Barnes      Stanford   44. Elena Gantcheva   UNLV       85. Theresa Logar     Stanford   106. Boglarka Berecz   Florida    167. Reza Zalameda     UCLA       NR8. Jackie Carleton   Duke       27
SCHEDULE OF PLAYFridayDoubles Round of 16  10 a.m.Singles Round of 32  FollowSingles Round of 16  Follow
SaturdayDoubles Quarterfinals 10 a.m.Singles Quarterfinals FollowSingles Semifinals    Follow
SundayDoubles Semifinals    TBADoubles Final         FollowSingles Final         Follow