Alabama Women’s Tennis’ Bencheikh and Hiser To Compete at ITA National Fall Championships

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Loudmilla Bencheikh and Anne Marie Hiser will represent Alabama women's tennis at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Fall Championships in San Diego, Calif. The tournament will open Nov. 4 with the doubles champion being crowned Nov. 7 at the Barnes Tennis Center.

Bencheikh and Hiser open play against Miska Kadleckova and Sofia Cabezas from Iowa State. The match is set for a 5 p.m. CT start.

How to Follow

Live scoring and video will be available through Tennis Ticker with links available at RollTide.com. Updates throughout the tournament will be provided on the team's Twitter account, @AlabamaWTN.

The Tournament

Bencheikh and Hiser will open the tournament against Miska Kadleckova and Sofia Cabezas from Iowa State at 5 p.m. CT
The four-day national championship will feature 32 doubles teams
The Round of 32 opens play Thursday while the Round of 16 kicks off on Friday
Saturday will feature the quarterfinals and semifinals of the tournament before a champion is crowned on Sunday
This is the fifth ITA National Fall Championships, after the tournament replaced the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate event in 2017

A Look at the National Field

Bencheikh and Hiser are one of just five Southeastern Conference doubles pairings to earn a trip to the ITA National Fall Championships
The tournament features the top-two teams from each regional championship, as well as the champion and finalist from the Women's All-American Championships
The field will be rounded out by three at-large selections, two ITA wild cards and one ITA Cup wild card
Bencheikh and Hiser are the only SEC doubles pairing to win their ITA regional tournament as the doubles teams from Florida, Ole Miss and Texas A&M finished runners-up in their region and the Arkansas tandem fell in the semifinals

The Tide at the ITA National Fall Championship

Bencheikh and Hiser are the first UA pair to advance to the ITA Fall National Championships since Erin Routliffe and Andie Daniell in 2016
Routliffe and Daniell clinched the regional title in back-to-back years, winning both the 2015 and 2016 titles in straight sets
Bencheikh and Hiser will face Kadleckova and Cabezas from Iowa State for the first time this season

A Look Back at ITA Southern Regionals

Bencheikh and Hiser earned an automatic berth to the ITA Fall National Championships after winning the Southern Regional title in straight sets
The UA duo went 6-3 in the opening stanza of the finals against Kelsey Mize and Ludmilla Kareisova from Ole Miss before dominating the second 6-0, at the regional tournament
The Alabama tandem's win over second-seeded Emmanouela Antonaki and Tamara Racine from Mississippi State (3-6, 7-5 [10-8]) in the semifinals was one of four victories over a seeded team in the tournament
The pair also defeated 16th-seeded Sofia Zaprianov and Alexis Lopez from Samford (8-2), fourth-seeded Sabina Machalova and Tiphanie Fiquet from Ole Miss (8-3) and eighth-seeded Maggie Cubitt and Safiya Carrington from LSU (8-6)

Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaWTN on Twitter and Facebook and AlabamaWTN on Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.

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