Santa Monica’s Nicole Gibbs will compete in the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships (NIIC) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s Indoor Building in New York, which runs today through Sunday.
The event is the second-most prestigious event on the college tennis calendar behind the NCAA Championships, and is the most important event occurring during the fall semester.
Gibbs, now a sophomore at Stanford, reached the semifinals of 2011 US Open Junior tournament.
Her other career highlights include:
• 2010-2011 Season: All-American in singles … All-Pac-10 Second Team honoree … ITA Northwest Region Player to Watch … NCAA Championships All-Tournament Team selection … earned a final national singles ranking of No. 12 … advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championships, defeating back-to-back top-10 opponents before falling to eventual champion and top-ranked Jana Juricova of California in a hard-fought three-setter.
The most unique element of the USTA/ITA Intercollegiate Championships programs is the fact that all levels of varsity college tennis (NCAA Divisions I, II, III, NAIA and Junior/Community College) are competing in one comprehensive event, and any ITA varsity student-athlete has the opportunity to play and win at the prestigious USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
In all, more than 8,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the USTA/ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships, and Columbia University will serve as this year’s tournament host.
Past winners of the NIIC include James Blake of Harvard, Todd Martin of Northwestern, Malivai, Washington of Michigan, Laura Granville of Stanford, and Lisa Raymond of Florida, while Mike and Bob Bryan of Stanford reached the 1998 doubles final.
