ATHENS, Georgia – The University of Georgia women’s tennis team will host Iowa, the State of Mississippi and northern Florida for the 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend.

Scheduled for Jan. 28-29, 2022, ITA Kick-Off Weekend typically marks the start of the collegiate tennis double-match season. At 15 venues, 60 teams will compete for a ticket to the ITA Women’s National Indoor Championships scheduled for February 11-14 in Madison, Wis.

The 15 women’s universities that host the ITA Launch Weekend events have been named as host venues in order of their 2021 year-end ITA team rankings. The ITA hosted its annual draft on Wednesday with schools able to select their destination according to their ranking.

In the Georgian group, the No. 1 Bulldogs will face the No. 4 North Florida Ospreys, while the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes will face the No. 3 Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first round. In the second round, the winners face off while the losing teams face off as the teams are guaranteed two matches at each venue. The 15 winners from each venue move the national event forward with the University of Wisconsin serving as 16^e team in the parenthesis as a host school.

The Bulldogs (23-2), who won both regular season and SEC tournament titles, finished the 2021 season ranked fourth nationally after reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships. The Ospreys (18-8) won their first-ever NCAA tournament game last season, upsetting Ole Miss in the round of 16 to place 49th. Iowa (12-6) finished the year 41st while MSU (11-13) was No 42.

Georgia has been a host site for almost two years since the ITA’s inaugural 2009 kickoff season. The Bulldogs are 22-0 in Athens and 23-1 overall in the event. opening of spring. The Bulldogs own four domestic indoor titles (1994, 1995, 2002, 2019) in 31 appearances, dating back to its inception in 1988.

The men’s draft kicks off Thursday at 9 a.m. ET, with the Bulldogs also serving as the host.