Jan. 14, 2011

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The No. 13-ranked University of Tennessee Lady Vol tennis team is set to wrap up the tournament portion of its 2010-11 schedule this weekend as it travels to Ann Arbor, Mich. to compete in the Michigan Invitational from Saturday through Monday.

The Lady Vols are looking to cap a solid tournament slate, as well as gain momentum for the dual match season, which kicks off with a trip to No. 25 Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 23.

The tournament will be UT's first since the first week of November. Over the course of the fall, Tennessee posted a 48-32 mark in singles play and a 22-10 mark in doubles play.

Freshman Brynn Boren was impressive in her initial semester at Rocky Top, racking up a team-best 13 singles wins. Boren is ranked No. 20 in the current Campbell/ITA singles rankings.

Senior Rosalía Alda is currently 10th in school history with 89 doubles victories. She and freshman Millie Nichols had a stellar fall, going 8-2 and earning the No. 10 spot in the ITA rankings. Boren and senior Maria Sorbello, who earned a berth in November's USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, sit at No. 19 in those same rankings.

Tennessee can also expect a boost from the return of junior Natalie Pluskota. A two-time All-American in doubles play, Pluskota will be seeing her first action of 2010-11 after missing all of the fall with an injury.

This weekend, each team will play three rounds of doubles and three rounds of singles. There will be eight flights in singles and four flights in doubles. Points will be allotted for each win based on an assigned point value to each match that will help determine the champion (singles and doubles) at the end of the weekend.

UT will kick off the action with singles matches against No. 16 Georgia Tech at 10 a.m. on Saturday and follow that up with doubles matches against No. 8 Michigan at 1 p.m.

On Sunday, UT will compete in singles against No. 23 Washington at 10 a.m. and in doubles against Georgia Tech at 1 p.m.

Play concludes Monday with the Big Orange taking on Washington in doubles at 1 p.m. and then facing Michigan in singles immediately afterward.

Live video and scoring will be available here.

Fans are reminded to follow the Lady Vols on Twitter at www.twitter.com/UTLadyVols.