SPOKANE, Wash. – Women's tennis senior
Sophie Whittle has been selected to compete at the Blizzard Wild Card Challenge Dec. 15-18 at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Whittle is one of eight women's collegiate players selected for the tournament that is hosted by USTA Player Development and the USTA Collegiate Department.
The tournament champion will earn a spot in the main draw of a 2019 $60K tournament, and the student-athletes will also be competing for a guaranteed spot on the 2019 Collegiate National Team. A member of the squad receives grant money to travel to professional tournaments and receive coaching from USTA Player Development staff.
"I am so proud of Sophie and am very excited for the [Collegiate] National [Team] coaches to not only see how talented she is, but more importantly to see the dedication and commitment Sophie has to her sport, teammates and coaches," head women's tennis coach
D.J. Gurule said. "I am very confident that she will represent herself as well as Gonzaga at the highest level."
The women will be divided into two groups for round-robin play, and the top two finishers in each group will advance to the semifinals on Dec. 17. The finals will take place Dec. 18. Live streaming will be available on USTANationalCampus.com, and live scoring will also be available for the semifinal and final matches.
2018 BLIZZARD WILD CARD CHALLENGE COMPETITORS
- Kelly Chen (Duke)
- Sara Daavettila (North Carolina)
- Salma Ewing (USC)
- Michaela Gordon (Stanford)
- Makenna Jones (North Carolina)
- Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine)
- Brienne Minor (Michigan)
- Sophie Whittle (Gonzaga)
