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Princeton University Athletics
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Women's Tennis Set to Open Season at ITA Kick-Off Weekend
January 21, 2015 | Women's Tennis
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Princeton's 35th-ranked women's tennis team will get the spring dual-match season going Saturday in Alabama at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
It'll be the fourth time Princeton has participated in the event. The Tigers headed to Baylor in the inaugural ITA Kick-Off Weekend in 2009, splitting matches with Baylor and Iowa. The following year, Princeton went to Northwestern, where it split matches with the host Wildcats and Denver. The last time Princeton competed in the event, in 2011, foursome host Florida State and Texas took matches from the Tigers.
This time, Princeton will open with 56th-ranked Virginia Tech at 3 p.m. ET Saturday after No. 7 Alabama hosts No. 57 Syracuse. Sunday, a consolation match and a final match will take place with competition beginning at 11 a.m.
Alabama was where Princeton ended the 2014 dual-match season, coming within two third-set matches of upsetting No. 2-ranked Alabama in the second round of the NCAA tournament a day after claiming its first-ever NCAA tournament match win, 4-3 over 25th-ranked Arizona State. Every Tiger who competed in the NCAA tournament last spring is back this season.
Princeton will have one of the six ITA-ranked doubles teams among the four schools in the event, headed by Alabama's 18th-ranked Erin Routliffe and Maya Jansen, with sophomore Dorothy Tang and freshman Katrine Steffensen ranked 50th on the season-opening list released earlier this month. Three players in the foursome, all from Alabama, are ITA-ranked, headed by 20th-ranked Routliffe.
The weekend will be the season opener for both Alabama and Princeton, while Virginia Tech and Syracuse are already 2-0 on the dual-match season.
| Team |  Princeton |
 Virginia Tech |
 Syracuse |
 Alabama |
| Match Date/Time | Sat. vs. Virginia Tech Sun. vs. Alabama OR Syracuse |
Saturday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m. ET | Sunday, Jan. 25, 11 a.m./3 p.m. ET |
Sunday, Jan. 25, 11 a.m./3 p.m. ET |
| ITA Ranking | 35th | 56th | 57th | 7th |
| 2015 Dual-Match Record | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| ITA-Ranked Players | (50) Katrine Steffensen/Dorothy Tang | (36) Francesca Fusinato/Raluca Mita (50) Raluca Mita/Ilinca Stoica |
(59) Komal Safdar/Valeria Salazar Garza | (20) Erin Routliffe (56) Danielle Spielmann (59) Maya Jansen (18) Maya Jansen/Erin Routliffe (23) Maya Jansen/Luicelena Peres |
| Record vs. Princeton | Princeton leads 2-0 | Princeton leads 13-2 | Alabama leads 1-0 | |
| Last Meeting | 2003 | 2013 | 2014 |