Women's Tennis Heads to Knoxville for ITA Sectional Championships

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida State women's tennis team travels to Knoxville, Tennessee, this weekend to compete in the ITA Sectional Championships in the South section at the Robert L. Barksdale Tennis Stadium. Individuals from universities in the Ohio Valley, Southeast, and Southern regions will compete in the South section. The tournament begins Nov. 5, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 8.

The 2026 ITA Sectional Championships will have a draw size of the following: (Singles: 32 Main Draw) (Doubles: 16 Main Draw). From this, 24 singles players will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship. Meanwhile, 12 doubles teams will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.

Freshmen Ariana Gilbert and Nicole Okhtenberg will serve as one of two duos for Florida State this weekend. The pair are coming off a strong performance at the ITA Regional Championships, in which they made a run to the semifinals. They will begin doubles action on Thursday at 9:00 a.m.

Gilbert and Okhtenberg became the first duo since the 2019-2020 season to make the semifinal round at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships.

Senior Laura Putz teams up with JoAnna Kennedy to make up the other Florida State tandem. Putz and Kennedy earned two victories in the ITA Regional Championships. Putz and Kennedy took their first match 8-0 over Mercer's Manan Rosa-Dubreuil and Kayleigh Didderiens and finished strong with an 8-7 (7) win over Bella Payne and Patricija Paukstye of Georgia.

The duo of Putz and Kennedy will also take the court at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday.

No. 94-ranked Kennedy and junior Mary Boyce Deatherage will be competing in singles action for the Seminoles.

Both Kennedy and Deatherage picked up singles victories in the consolation bracket of the ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Coral Gables last month.

Kennedy cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory against FGCU's Maria Vargas, and Deatherage defeated Malika Amirgalieva from Florida Atlantic 6-2, 6-2.

Kennedy is also coming off a strong performance at the UTR Knoxville. After going 3-0 and finishing first in her group during the round robin stage of the tournament, Kennedy took third place overall.

Deatherage begins singles action at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday and is followed by Kennedy at noon.

Live stats and video will be available on Seminoles.com.

For more information on the Florida State women's tennis program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at FSUWTennis (IG) and @FSU_WTennis (X).

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Players Mentioned

Mary Boyce Deatherage

Ariana Gilbert

JoAnna Kennedy

Nicole Okhtenberg

Laura Putz

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