The University of Akron Athletics
Harutyunyan Picked For Riviera/ITA All-American Event
September 02 | Women's Tennis
- University of Akron sophomore tennis player Zara Harutyunyan has been selected to compete in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, to be held at The Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and on the campus of UCLA on Oct. 3-11. The Riviera/ITA All-American Championships is one of three national championship events for collegiate tennis, with the other two being the ITA National Indoor Championships and the NCAA Championships.
Harutyunyan, the Mid-American Conference's reigning player of
the year, is one of 144 players nationwide selected to the event.
She will participate in the prequalifying draw held at UCLA on Oct.
3-4. The 64-player prequalifying competition requires winning three
matches in order to advance to the qualifying draw of 64 on Oct.
6-7. The 32-player main draw will be played out on Oct. 8-11 (click
the link at the top of this article for a complete listing of
players chosen to participate in this event).
The native of Yerevan, Armenia, will be the first-ever UA player to
participate in the event and she is one of two MAC players
selected, with Buffalo's No. 1 player, Denise Harijanto, also being
chosen. Harutyunyan is also one of only two players from schools in
the state of Ohio selected to compete in singles, with Ohio State's
No. 1 player, Kirsten Flower, also being placed into the
prequalifying bracket.
"I am very excited for Zara to have the opportunity to compete
against the top players in the country," fourth-year Akron head
coach Jeffrey Wyshner said. "This
event is one of three major individual championships available to a
collegiate player, and it is very important for Zara and the
University of Akron to be participating alongside the top programs
in the country at an event like this. Success at this tournament
would also help Zara reach her goal of being one of 64 players
selected to participate in next May's NCAA Championships."
Along with being chosen as the league's player of the year last season (first UA student-athlete and first freshman in conference history to do so), Harutyunyan was also picked to the All-MAC First Team. She finished MAC play with a 7-1 No. 1 singles mark and posted a 20-2 overall record against dual-match singles competition (37-5 overall in singles). In doubles play, she went 6-2 against MAC opposition (33-6 overall in doubles). Her 70 combined singles and doubles wins far surpassed the school's single-season record of 54 (set by Mendy McMurtry in 1990-91).
Twice named MAC Player of the Week last season (on Jan. 22 and Feb. 25), Harutyunyan received the program's highest-ever national (85th) and regional ranking (11th in Midwest) by the ITA in January, and advanced to the main draw round of 16 at the ITA Midwest regional last October.
