CARY, N.C. – Three members of the LSU women’s tennis team are set to begin their campaigns at the ITA All-American Championships on Saturday at Cary Tennis Park. Graduate student Aran Texidó Garcia, junior Florentine Dekkers and freshman Kinaa Graham will start their paths in the pre-qualifying stages.
ITA All-American Championships
The ITA All-American Championships is one of college tennis’ most prestigious tournaments as the best players in the country gather to compete in North Carolina. The tournament is split into three separate stages: pre-qualifying rounds on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, qualifying from Oct. 2-4 and finally the main draw starting on Oct. 5.
Garcia, Dekkers and Graham will begin their campaigns in the pre-qualifying stages of singles on Saturday morning. Garcia faces Kristina Novak of Oklahoma State at 8 a.m. CT, Dekkers takes on San Diego’s Claudia De Las Heras at 10:30 a.m. CT and Graham plays Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer of UCLA at 12:30 p.m. CT. The doubles duo of Garcia and Dekkers will then face East Tennessee State’s Fernanda Carvajal and Daniela Rivera at 2:30 p.m. CT to wrap LSU’s day up.
Tiger Tidbits
Dekkers and Graham are set to compete in LSU colors for the second time this fall while Garcia is slated for ITA competition for the first time this fall. Dekkers and Graham both posted a 2-1 record in singles and doubles at the River Oaks Invitational just two weeks ago, earning wins against foes from Texas, Texas A&M and Rice. It marked a successful start to each player’s fall campaign and they’ll look to carry that momentum into this tournament.
Garcia will compete for the first time as an LSU Tiger at this tournament. She was a four-year standout player at Memphis from 2019-2023, playing at the top singles and doubles court. Her strongest season came in the spring of 2022, where she posted a 14-5 singles record in dual matches playing primarily at the No. 1 court. In doubles, she posted a team-high 17-5 record playing primarily at the top court with her performances helping Memphis secure the AAC conference title, the program’s first ever.
Dekkers and Garcia were both in action this past week at the ITF 15K Hilton Head, a professional tournament hosted by the ITF in South Carolina. In that tournament, Dekkers qualified her way into the main draw of the singles bracket, where she won her first round matchup before falling in the second. It marked the third time in 2023 that Dekkers qualified for a main draw of an ITF tournament.
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