July 12, 2010

SKILLMAN, N.J. - Lady Vol tennis players Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota were named to the 27th annual ITA Collegiate All-Star Team for their performance during the 2009-10 season.

The ITA Collegiate All-Star Team includes the nation's top-ranked men's and women's tennis players from the season-ending Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and NJCAA levels, as well as champions from the 2009 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships and 2010 NCAA Championships.

Whoriskey and Pluskota finished the season as the nation's No. 1-ranked squad in the Campbell/ITA doubles poll, which secured their place on the team. They are the first-ever Lady Vol tennis players to receive this honor.

The talented tandem posted a 26-3 record this past season, advancing all the way to the finals of the NCAA Doubles Championships before falling to Hilary Barte/Lindsay Burdette of Stanford. Whoriskey and Pluskota took home the doubles crown at the 2009 ITA All-American Championships.

The ITA previously named Whoriskey and Pluskota the 2009-10 Campbell/ITA National Doubles Team of the Year.

Whoriskey, who graduated in May with a degree in Geography, has now advanced to the professional ranks, where she has already captured two ITF doubles titles this summer. Pluskota will be a junior in 2010-11 and has already recorded 58 doubles wins in just two seasons at Rocky Top.

These remarkable student-athletes, along with the winners of the 2010 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Awards, will be treated by the ITA and United States Tennis Association (USTA) to a weekend in New York, highlighted by activities during Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Saturday, August 28th. The group will be honored at the ITA awards luncheon, hosted by the USTA in the President's Dining Room Suite. Lucy Garvin, Chairman of the Board and President of the USTA, David A Benjamin, ITA Executive Director, David Dinkins, former Mayor of New York City and a member of the USTA Board of Directors, are among those on hand to present the awards.

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

2010 ITA COLLEGIATE ALL-STAR TEAM

Division I Women's Singles
Irina Falconi, Georgia Tech
Jana Juricova, California
Chelsey Gullickson, Georgia

Division I Women's Doubles
Natalie Pluskota/Caitlin Whoriskey, Tennessee
Hilary Barte/Lindsay Burdette, Stanford
Kristy Frilling/Kali Krisik, Notre Dame