Sectional Championships  selection criteria & Manual

2025 DATES OF PLAY

All 2025 ITA Division I Sectional Championships must begin no earlier than Thursday, November 6th, 2025 and must be completed no later than Sunday, November 9, 2025.

QUALIFIERS TO 2025 NCAA SINGLES AND DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 4 singles semifinalists, 2 singles quarterfinalist playoff winners, 2 doubles finalists, and the doubles 3rd/4th place playoff winner from each of the 4 ITA sections will qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships. 

Changes to ITA Sectionals in 2025

1. Doubles players who have qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championships via the ITA All-American Championships or the ITA Regional Championships must forefit any previously earned doubles qualification in order to play doubles with a different partner at the ITA Sectional Championships.

2. Sectionals will now conclude following the completion of the qualifying rounds. In singles, the tournament will end following the completion of the quarterfinals and quarterfinal playoff. In doubles, play will end following the completion of the semifinals and the third-place playoff.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Main Draw Singles (32 players) 

• 31 At-Large

  • 1st Priority: All-American Championships- feed-in consolation SF losers

  • 2nd Priority: All-American Championships- feed-in consolation QF losers 

  • 3rd Priority: All-American Championships- feed-in consolation R16 losers

  • 4th Priority: Regional Championships- 3rd place finishers 

  • 5th Priority: Regional Championships- 4th place finishers 

  • 6th Priority: All-American Championships- feed-in consolation R-16-Q losers

  • 7th Priority: Regional Championships- Quarterfinalists (ordered by WTN as of Oct. 22)

  • 8th Priority: Players submitted for entry who have competed in singles in an ITA Regional Championship and/or singles in the ITA All-American Championships (ordered by WTN as of Oct. 22)

  • 9th Priority: Players submitted for entry (ordered by WTN as of Oct. 22)

• 1 Host Site Wild Card

Main Draw Doubles (16 teams) 

• 15 At-Large

  • 1st Priority: All-American Championships- QF losers 

  • 2nd Priority: All-American Championships- R16 losers

  • 3rd Priority: Regional Championships- finalists (ordered by combined doubles WTN as of Oct. 22)

  • 4th Priority: Regional Championships- semifinalists (ordered by combined doubles WTN as of Oct. 22)

  • 5th Priority: Teams submitted for entry (ordered by combined doubles WTN as of Oct. 22)

• 1 Host Site Wild Card

WTN will break ties at any priority level.

HOST SITE SELECTION

The ITA office will administer a host site application process in December and January of the prior academic year.  The host site application will be distributed to all ITA Division I member-programs.  Due to the timing of these events in November, host sites are welcome to apply to host either indoors or outdoors. Outdoor applications must consider typical weather during that time of year and may be required to have indoor backup options available. Once the host application deadline has passed, all applications will be reviewed by the ITA office for final selection.  The ITA office may consult with ITA region chairs (from all regions contained within that section) regarding the various applications that were received within a specific section.  Once final selections have been made, the ITA office will notify all applicants and publish/distribute the selections and corresponding dates of each sectional championship for the following year.  The following guidelines shall be used by the ITA office when making their decision: 

1. Ability to comply with ITA Division I Sectional Championships host site policies and procedures (contained within this document) 

2. Quality of the facilities - number of courts, the configuration of the courts, court condition, etc. 

3. Institutional support - does the institution provide or allow for supportive staff necessary to run a successful event?

4. Geographic location within the section.

5. Has the applicant run an ITA regional, sectional, or national tournament before, and if yes, was the event successfully run?

6. Lodging - are the hotels suitable in terms of availability, accommodations, distance from the facility and overall cost?

PRE-EVENT MANAGEMENT

It is the responsibility of the Tournament Host to work together with the ITA office, the Regional Chairs from all regions contained within that section, and the Head Referee to make sure each Sectional Championship is administered as successfully as possible.  It is the joint responsibility of the Tournament Host, Region Chairs, and Head Referee to ensure all ITA tournament guidelines and rules are followed.  Any Division I event that has not followed ITA tournament rules and guidelines will be fined $500.00 and will lose the option of hosting an ITA Sectional Championship event in future years.

Event Sanction

All ITA Division I Sectional Championships receive an automatic sanction and are NOT required to pay the tournament sanction fee (note: this is separate from the Host Site Fee). The ITA will sanction the tournament through the host institution's ClubSpark platform so tournament hosts may create draws and enter results- ITA Staff will not enter tournament results for you. Hosts are required to utilize the ClubSpark platform as the main tournament page leading up to and during the event, and the tournament homepage should be used to communicate information about the event including hotels, selection criteria, weather updates, etc.

Tournament Director

Identify a tournament director (not the coach of the host institution) to send tournament communication, enter results, schedule matches in coordination with the Head Referee, and oversee other tournament operations and staff. The ITA office must be copied on all tournament communication leading up to and during the event.

Head Referee & Officials 

Identify a Head Referee (ITA certified). All main draw quarterfinals (and quarterfinal playoffs), semifinals, and finals singles matches must be chaired, as well as all main draw semifinals (and 3rd/4th place playoff) and finals doubles matches. When possible, it is highly encouraged that round of 16 singles matches and quarterfinal doubles matches be chaired as well. For all other matches, there must be 1 ITA-certified officials per 4 courts.

An officials' meeting must be scheduled to review procedures, scoring system, appeals, etc. The Head Referee must attend the Coaches' Meeting (held prior to the start of the event) and participate in the making of the draw. Please make sure your referee and all officials are familiar with the official 2025-26 ITA Rule Book. 

Tournament Committee

The tournament committee shall consist of the Tournament Director, the Head Referee, the ITA staff, and one coach from each represented region, preferably a member of the ITA Regional Committee.  ITA Regional Committees are confirmed by the ITA office prior to the start of each academic season and can be found on the ITA website (men | women).  Once confirmed, the tournament committee must be displayed on the event page. Sectional championships shall be administered according to the guidelines contained in this manual.  When issues that are not addressed within this manual arise, the tournament committee, in consultation with the ITA office, is responsible for resolving those issues. The Tournament Director is NOT permitted to make any such decisions without first consulting with the Committee and the ITA office.  

Event Sponsorship

The ITA does not have a title sponsor for the 2025 ITA Sectional Championships. If you choose to seek additional sponsorship for the event, you must receive written approval from the ITA in advance. Alcoholic beverage and tobacco companies are not permitted to sponsor ITA events. The sponsor may not be listed in the title of the event and should not conflict with the current ITA sponsors such as Dunlop, Anthony Travel, or Sports Interiors.

Event Insurance

The ITA office must receive a copy of the certificate of insurance naming the ITA as an additional insured by September 1, 2025. Please email the certificate to Liz Bothwell (DI Women) or Cody Johnson (DI Men). It is the responsibility of each Tournament Host to make certain that this event has the proper liability coverage as agreed upon in the signed “Letter of Agreement,” naming the ITA as additionally insured. Wherever possible, the insurance should be included on the host site university (facility) insurance policy. If such insurance coverage is not available through the host university/facility, it is the responsibility of the tournament director to purchase general liability insurance coverage in an amount of no less than $1,000,000.00 from a provider of their choosing. K&K Insurance through Nationwide can accomplish this need. Please remember when you are acquiring insurance through an outside provider that the ITA must be named as an additional insured. 

Host Site Fee

The host site fee for 2025 is $650. Payment is due by November 15th and will be completed through an online payment form.  A late charge of $100 will be assessed to those host sites that do not complete payment by November 15th.  Invoices can be requested by emailing Liz Bothwell (DI Women) or Cody Johnson (DI Men). The ITA recommends that a requisition be submitted to your accounting department, if necessary, to meet the deadline.  The ITA no longer collects player admin fees from hosts, and any revenue (including any profit) may be kept for the Tournament Host's tennis program. 

Out-of-Section Requests

Participating teams are not allowed to petition to play in a different Sectional Championship other than their assigned section, regardless of reason.  

Pre-Tournament Planning Call 

The tournament director, head referee, host institution's head coach, and tournament committee, must attend a pre-tournament planning call with the ITA office to review tournament logistics including the selection and seeding process, scheduling, use of the tournament management system, and tournament committee duties during the event. 

Inclement Weather Plan & Plan for Indoor Courts

As the host institution, if you are planning for an outdoor event, you must make your best effort to arrange for the use of a nearby indoor facility on short notice in case of inclement weather.

Marketing, Media, and Publicity

The host institution must meet with its sports information department to discuss a marketing plan for the tournament. Standard coverage should include an event preview and daily write-ups on your school's athletic website as well as daily postings on social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) using the event hashtag #ITASectionals. Please make sure that "ITA" is always part of the event title in all media coverage. The ITA will email the official event logo to all tournament directors and host institution SIDs. This logo should only be used in its original form, and any changes must first be approved by the ITA.

Advanced Emails

The tournament director must send at least two emails to all coaches (both ITA members and non-members) within their section. Please copy the ITA office on both of these emails:

The first email should be an invite email to all coaches in your section. The email should also include tournament dates, site/location, entry fees, host hotel information, and entry deadline information - entry deadline is October 26. This invite email must be sent by October 11.

The second email should emphasize all deadlines and include information on the selection criteria, tournament committee, and draw publish timeline. Much of this information will be provided by the ITA office. This email must be sent by October 21s.

A third email should be sent on October 29 to all coaches who have registered players. This email should include the list of selected players, the alternate list, and information about the mandatory Coaches' Meeting (date/time/location). It should also cover ITA membership, seeding policies, the date of the draw release (November 4), hotels, area attractions and restaurants, transportation arrangements, practice court information, and important contact information/phone numbers.

Mandatory Coaches Meeting

The tournament director must schedule and inform (in writing) all participating schools about the tournament Coaches Meeting. This mandatory meeting will be led by the Tournament Director with help from ITA Operating Committee Members or ITA Regional Chairs in attendance and will take place the day prior to the start of play each Sectional Championship.

During this meeting, the tournament format, scoring, appeals procedures, etc. will be reviewed, and tournament and ITA information will be distributed. A meeting agenda will be emailed to you from the ITA prior to your tournament.

All coaches are required to attend this meeting. It is the tournament director's responsibility to take attendance at this meeting. A representative of each participating institution must be present, and the Head Referee must be in attendance as well.

PARTICIPANT SELECTION CRITERIA & ENTRY INFORMATION

Wild Cards

ITA Sectional Hosts will receive one wild card into the singles draw and one wild card into the doubles draw.

Seeding

Draws will be released two days prior to the start of the tournament. 25% of each draw shall be seeded.

Singles will be seeded based on singles WTN as of the Wednesday, October 29th WTN run.

Doubles will be seeded based on combined doubles WTN as of the Wednesday, October 29th WTN run.

Sample Schedule of Play

Day 1- Singles R32, Singles Cons R16, Doubles R16

Day 2- Singles R16, Singles Cons QF, Doubles QF, Doubles Cons QF

Day 3- Singles QF, Singles Cons SF, Doubles SF, Doubles Cons SF

Day 4- Singles QF Playoff, Doubles 3/4 Playoff, Doubles Cons F, Singles Cons F

Participant Manual

The ITA encourages all sectional hosts to create a participant manual that could include: schedule of play (including starting times), information about locker facilities, stringing availability, trainer and medical information, hotel and restaurant information, name of head referee, tournament desk phone number and any other information pertinent to your event.

ITA Waiver

The ITA will provide a digital waiver posted in the coaches resources and share the response sheet with each tournament director. Please also send the link to each of your participating teams and ensure you've received a waiver from every player prior to them competing.

Consolation Tournament

There shall be a consolation event played to completion for all first-round losers in singles and doubles. 

Entry Fees

The TD will be responsible for collecting entry fees and keeping track of player entries, and all entry fees are retained by the host site. The tournament entry fee for the 2025 ITA Sectional Championships will be $80 per singles player and $80 per doubles team. 

Membership Information

Please inform all coaches that they must be current ITA members. Schools that are not current ITA members are not permitted to participate.

Lodging

Please provide a complete list of hotels (including address, phone number, rates, and proximity to your site) and make a best effort to secure discounted rates.

Practice Courts

The TD must provide information in the correspondence about practice court availability along with a phone number or email to reserve practice courts (unless allocated on a “first-come, first-serve” basis). Practice courts must be made available at least one hour before the start of each day’s matches. All practice courts are to be provided at no charge. Please be diligent in your planning and organizing for practice courts for each day of the tournament as this is often the most frequently asked question prior to and during the event.

DRAWS AND SCHEDULE OF PLAY

The Draw

The ITA-Certified Head Referee, the Tournament Director and ITA Region Chairs (remotely, if necessary) must participate in the making of the draw, which must be made in accordance with USTA and ITA procedures. When a collegiate draw involves players or doubles teams from the same school, such entries shall be separated as far out as possible, placed in separate halves, quarters or eighths as evenly as possible, depending on the number of entries from that school or university. The same procedure shall be used when a school has multiple seeds. The top 2 seeded players from a school shall be in separate halves, a third seeded player in the same half with the second seeded player and so on. In cases where the top two players from the same team are not seeded, they must be placed in opposite halves of the draw, wherever possible. (Revised 12/2013)

Schedule of Play

A maximum of two rounds of singles and two rounds of doubles may be played each day. In situations where the number of matches being played by a particular player is in question, the tournament committee must be consulted. If the members of the tournament committee are not available, the ITA office must be contacted.

Format & Scoring

All singles matches at an ITA Sectional Championship will be a best two out of three set match with no-ad scoring. All doubles matches will be best two out of three sets, with a match tiebreak in lieu of a third set.

Inclement Weather and Extreme Heat

Please familiarize yourself with ITA Rule I.J. Inclement Weather & Extreme Heat .

FACILITIES

The TD is responsible for making sure that the school facilities used for the ITA Sectional Championships are exclusively available for practice and competitive sessions throughout the event.

Number of Courts

There shall be a minimum of six courts for a 32/singles 16/doubles draw. 

Court Maintenance

The following court maintenance must be provided by the host site: proper cleaning and drying, wind screens, adequate number of rollers and squeegees, and a daily check of nets and center straps.

Equipment

Be sure to have the following: functional electronic scoreboards or scorecards and name cards (identifying each championship match with the player’s name and school) when electronic scoreboards are not available, water, singles sticks, Dunlop tennis balls (match and practice), spare nets, and racquet stringing available. Information provided for racquet stringing should include the location, phone number, and fees.

Live Scoring/Streaming

The host institution should make every effort to provide live scoring coverage throughout the event, where possible. It is strongly encouraged to provide live scoring, at a minimum, from the main draw quarterfinals on.

As agreed upon in the signed “Letter of Agreement”, all broadcast arrangements for the Sectional Championships remain the exclusive right of the ITA. Should the host site choose, at its own expense, to broadcast any part of the Championships, the host site should notify the ITA in order to secure permission - Liz Bothwell (DI Women) or Cody Johnson (DI Men).

Tennis Balls

The Official Tennis Ball of the ITA is Dunlop. Dunlop balls are required during the ITA Sectional Championship. Host sites should plan on having at least 7 cases of balls for this event (2 cases will be provided by the ITA, host site will be responsible for the other 5 cases). Should supply chain issues require the use of a different brand or type (regular duty, etc.) of tennis ball, that ball must be USTA/ITF approved, and ample notice should be provided to the visiting institutions (minimum of 2 weeks). Additionally, any changes to the brand of tennis ball should be reviewed with your Tournament Committee. If your event requires additional tennis balls, you may contact your local Dunlop representative to order additional DUNLOP EXTRA DUTY tennis balls but supply shortages may not allow last-minute orders. Note that the 2 cases of balls shipped are not intended to cover the entire tournament and additional tennis balls are a tournament expense. If you have not received the ITA allotted tennis ball order by two weeks prior to your event, please contact Liz Bothwell (DI Women) or Cody Johnson (DI Men). The ball change is 1 can per set. A match tiebreak (in lieu of a 3rd set) is not considered a new set and should therefore not receive a new can of balls.

Tournament Desk

A separate tournament desk area must be established with seating and space for officials, ball storage, posted draw sheets with up-to-date results. Coaches should be provided with the tournament desk phone number at the coaches meeting.

Tournament Lounge

It is the responsibility of the TD to arrange for a lounge area where players and coaches can relax. Light refreshments such as Gatorade/Powerade, water or soft drinks and pretzels, fruit, etc. should be provided.

Plan for Medical Assistance

Each practice or competitive session of the ITA Sectional Championship must have a qualified person on-site (or easily accessible) to provide emergency care, such as a certified athletic trainer. A team physician (or another trained medical assistant) must also be readily available (either in person or by phone). Transportation to a nearby medical facility must be quickly accessible.

Photographs

When posting on social media, please be sure to include the hashtag #ITASectionals. Where possible, the ITA banner should be used as the backdrop for the winners’ photos. We ask that winning schools post the photo(s) to social media.