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Nov. 5, 2008

The University of Louisville's Austen Childs has been selected to play in the singles draw and will team with Simon Childs in doubles in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.

The nation's top collegiate tennis players will be competing in the ITA National Indoor Championships starting Thursday, October 6. This is the second of three national tournaments for singles and doubles administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) during the 2008-09 academic year. The University of Virginia is hosting the championships at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.

"I am proud of Austen and Simon for being selected to compete in this very prestigious tournament," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "Only 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams are chosen, making this even more difficult to get into than the NCAA championships at the end of the season."

Austen Childs, No. 26 in the ITA preseason rankings, will face top-ranked Oleksandr Nedovyesov Thursday at 3:30. Childs enters the tournament with an 8-5 overall record including a semifinal appearance in the Florida State Seminole Invitational.

Childs and Childs will play Texas Tech's Raony Carvalho-Christian Rojmar, Texas Tech Thursday at 11 a.m. Childs and Childs, No. 26 in the ITA preseason doubles rankings, have a 12-1 record after starting the season with 12 straight wins before losing to in the finals of Midwest Regional Championship.

"I'm extremely proud of Austen and Simon in doubles," said Ecarma. "I can't think of a hotter team at 12-1 in the fall season. They won the Virginia Plus One Invitational, made it to the finals of Midwest Regionals and won the Florida State Seminole Invitational. Being selected for the Indoor Championships is very prestigious for our program and these guys definitely earned their spots."

These ITA championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including: qualifiers from Wilson/ITA Regional Championships held across the country during October, the ITA National Small College champions, the winners of the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Tennis Championships and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships, and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 10,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the Wilson/ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships.