Bartnik, Sanon to represent Columbia at National Indoors

For the first time in over five seasons, the women’s tennis team will be represented in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. From Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, sophomore Nicole Bartnik and freshman Bianca Sanon will compete in the national championships with some of the best teams in the nation. Bartnik is the only player in the Ivy League to be competing in both doubles and singles in the event; she will be featured in the singles draw, as well as the doubles with her partner, Sanon. Out of the 32 singles players in the National Indoor Championships, two players will represent the Ancient Eight. Penn’s Connie Hsu will compete in singles, and Yale’s Vicky Brook and Lindsay Clark will be competing in doubles.

As the host school, Columbia received a wild-card entry into the doubles and singles draws. Though Bartnik and Sanon did not advance to the finals of the regional championships, they were both selected to compete in the National Indoor Championships. This will be only the second time the two team up to play in competition. With the special opportunity to compete in the National Indoor Championships, the duo expects to build on the strengths of its performance at the regional tournament.

If last week’s results from the regional championships are any predictor of this duo’s success, this should be one exciting week for Columbia. Last week, the duo advanced to the semifinals of the main draw in doubles, before falling to the top seeds. Despite their matchups against already well-established and well-practiced doubles teams, the new team of Bartnik and Sanon progressed through the competition further than any other doubles team from Columbia. The only other team from the Ancient Eight to reach a comparable round was that of Hsu and Alexa Ely from Penn.

At this week’s National Indoor Championships, the pair will play against other strong teams, including the four powerhouse players from Stanford featured in the event. Representing Stanford will be the ITA/Riviera All-American champion Hilary Barte. Playing in the doubles draw will be Stanford’s pair of rookie superstars, Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs. Ahn has won three qualifying matches and has earned herself the title of the youngest player in the 2008 U.S. Open main draw, while Gibbs was the runner-up at the 2010 USTA Girls’ 18 National Championships.

Also featured in the National Indoors is Maria Sanchez of USC, who is ranked No. 3 in the ITA Preseason Singles Rankings, as well as the defending Indoor Intercollegiate champion Jana Juricova of Cal-Berkeley.

The tournament will take place at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s new indoor building in Flushing, N.Y.