Cal Claims 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoor Title

Defending champion North Carolina threw everything it had at Cal but the Golden Bears captured its first-ever team National title at the 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championships. The tournament came down to No.5 singles with Olivia Hauger outlasting Marika Akkerman, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

Cal holding the ITA NTI trophy, its first in program history © ITA

ITA Women's NTI Championship Set: California vs. North Carolina

The 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championship is set with #6 California taking on the defending champions, #5 North Carolina. Both teams escaped close wins and tomorrow's final should be a real enticing encounter. Doubles will be a big point for either team and Cal will be focused on its first-strike tennis to gather momentum. North Carolina has been in this situation before and I think they''ll use their experience to wear down and overwhelm the Bears. Any player on both teams can take the match and I'm not the most confident in my predictions. The matchup is essentially a coin flip.

Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise be recapping with his thoughts and quotes at ZooTennis later tonight and will be covering tomorrow's final as well.

Women's NTI Semifinals Set: Ohio State Stuns Vanderbilt

Saturday's action is complete at the 2016 ITA Women's National Team Indoors and the semifinals are set with #16 Ohio State playing #6 Cal and #5 North Carolina facing off against #2 Georgia. Ohio State had the stunner of the year taking out the reigning NCAA champions Vanderbilt, while the rest of the remaining teams lived up to their seeding.

Again, I'd like to thank Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise for his tweets and coverage at the NTI. You will be able to check out his thoughts and quotes at ZooTennis later tonight.

Women's NTI Day 1: Top 4 Seeds Blank Out Opponents

I'll gladly take a solid 6/8 correct on Day 1 with one match going 4-3 and the other a match I thought would be as tight as it could get.

I think the story of the day was how competitive doubles was for nearly every match. Three of the eight doubles points were decided by a tiebreaker (Vanderbilt/Duke, Ohio State/Fresno State and Virginia/Texas A&M). With the 6-game, no-ad scoring format, does doubles have the same psychological effect on teams after a close point? Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise is covering the event for ZooTennis and you can read his recap with quotes here.

Someone in the comments pointed out how Florida, Stanford, USC and Baylor elected to skip the NTI to schedule their own tough matches and prepare differently for the off-season. Should teams who skip be penalized come NCAA seeding time and does it put an asterisk next to the champion's name? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

ITA Women's National Team Indoor Preview

The second-largest team tournament in collegiate tennis behind the NCAAs is the ITA National Team Indoor event. 15 schools advanced in Kick-Off Regionals to join host Wisconsin in Madison in the prestigious event that lasts from Friday through Monday. Last year, North Carolina dropped only 2 points in its 4 matches to clinch its 2nd title in 3 years. Lots of questions come into the tournament - can UNC match its title run after two of its three stars left? Can Vanderbilt show the world that its NCAA title isn't a fluke? Will UGA turn its consistency into a national title? Will a new team emerge from Madison as a top-tier team?