ROME, Ga. - Slippery Rock University women's tennis standouts Nicole Kempton and Alissia Kivi began their time at the 2025 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup doubles tournament with an opening-round match Thursday at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia.

In a match that featured a pair of teams that closed last season in the ITA's national doubles rankings, Kivi and Kempton lost a close 6-4, 6-4 decision to the University of West Florida's Carlota Verdu and Sandra Recuenco.

In what was a contest that could have went either way between two evenly-matched teams, Slippery Rock's top doubles pairing jumped out to 3-0 leads in both sets before Verdu and Recuenco, who closed 2024-25 as the ninth-ranked team in Division II, rallied for the wins.

Despite Thursday's loss, Kempton and Kivi's time at the ITA Cup is not done as the duo will play consolation matches on both Friday (3:30 p.m.) and Saturday (TBA). The Rock's opponents on Friday will be Emilia Gyorgy and Camila Garcia Morales of Midwestern State University.

The ITA Cup is the nation's premier individual championship for the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and Junior College levels.

Formerly known as the Small College Nationals, the ITA Cup has history dating back to 1986, and it is the only singles and doubles national championship event for the Division II and NAIA levels. The ITA Cup features the champions from 60 regional ITA Championships and select at-large qualifiers from Division II, Division III, NAIA and NJCAA. This year, more than 8,000 players took part in a total of 60 regional tournaments to gain entry into the ITA Cup field.

16 doubles teams from Division II earned spots in the 2025 ITA Cup: eight automatic qualifiers who won their regional championships and eight at-large berths, including Kivi and Kempton.

Following Thursday's results, Kivi and Kempton's record moves to 8-5on the year while Verdu and Recuenco advance to the quarterfinals with a 4-1 record in 2025.  





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