Teams: Women's Tennis: Press Releases

BROWNE & MCCOOEY TO REPRESENT TUFTS AT ITA NATIONAL SMALL COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIPS AGAIN

Julia Browne (left) and Meghan McCooey are the defending ITA National Small College doubles champions

MEDFORD -- For the second straight year, Julia Browne (Old Brookville, NY) and Meghan McCooey (Cumberland, RI) of the Tufts University women's tennis team will play at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama this week (Oct. 15-18).

Browne and McCooey won the ITA National Small College Championship last year in their first trip to the event. They earned their return trip this year by winning the ITA New England Region Championship September 18-20 at MIT. Browne will also play in the singles draw at this year's ITA Small College Nationals for the second straight year. She was the runner-up at the New England Championships, but winner Kristen Alotta from Williams is not attending the Small College Nationals and Browne will play as the alternate.

The ITA singles and doubles draws both have eight contestants. The Jumbos will be in action beginning on Thursday (Oct. 15). Browne will play Kathryn Schmidt of Carleton College at 8:00 am. Browne and McCooey, the #2 seed in the doubles draw, will face the winner of a play-in match between doubles pairs from the Southwest and Northwest regions on Thursday at 1:30 pm.

Browne and McCooey won the Division III doubles title at the 2008 ITA National Small College Championships against Marta Drane and Kristin Cobb from Denison by 6-2, 6-2 scores.  Their win marked the first national title for Tufts Tennis in the history of the program.

In the singles draw, Browne split a pair of matches. She was eliminated in the semi-finals by Jennifer Kung of the University of Chicago in three sets (7-5, 4-6, 6-4). Browne finished fourth after losing to Elizabeth Lewis from Chapman in the third-place match 6-2, 6-4.

The ITA National Small College Championships dates back to 1986 and determines national champions for NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College men's and women's singles and doubles. Those champions then compete to become the overall national small college champs (for all divisions) in the ITA Super Bowl of Small College Tennis.

Each small college division features eight singles players and eight doubles teams who earned spots into this national event by winning their respective ITA Regional Championships.

►ITA National Small College Championships Information

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