Sept. 29, 2006

TCU women's tennis players Ana Cetnik and Kewa Nichols will begin their trek towards qualifying in the main draw of the 2006 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships Friday. The 64-player prequalifying tournament is Sept. 31-Oct. 1 at UCLA. Eight players and four doubles teams will advance from there to to the Oct. 3-4 64-player qualifying tournament at Riviera (where eight players and four doubles teams will advance to the main draw).

TCU then-sophomore Nicole Leimbach beat Duke's Daniela Bercek to win the 2005 singles title. Leimbach will not compete in this year's tournament.

The first Intercollegiate Tennis Association national and singles and doubles championships of the 2006-07 season - the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships presented by Fila - is one of three national collegiate tennis championships this season. The Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships (its men's counterpart, the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships takes place at the University of Tulsa at the same time), the Nov. 2-5 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, and the year-end NCAA Championships are college tennis' three national championship events during the season.

The premier hard court event of the fall collegiate season, the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships presented by Fila feature the top players in NCAA Division I tennis.

The Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships presented by Fila date back to 1983 when Georgia's Lisa Spain won the inaugural title. In 1999 the University of San Diego's Zuzana Lesenarova made history at the Riviera when she won her record fifth national collegiate singles title. In 2003 California's Raquel Kops-Jones become the first African American woman to win a national collegiate singles title at the NCAA Division I level. Stanford boasts the most singles and doubles champions at this event with a total of eight, and Texas is not far behind with six. Past participants include current and recent top-100 professionals Lisa Raymond, Jill Craybas, Marissa Irvin and Laura Granville.

Notre Dame's Catrina and Christian Thompson won the doubles crown, beating Fresno State's Lucia Sainz and Kathrin Winterhalter in the final.

The famous Riviera Tennis Club has played host to this event since 1988 (it also hosted an intercollegiate women's championship from 1986-88). The tournament is a popular spot for collegiate players each season thanks to the generous hospitality the Riviera provides each year.