First Serve - Gulihur and Melilo Conclude Season at Singles and Doubles Championships

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The long and arduous collegiate tennis season comes to a close in a big way for a pair of Ospreys as Kit Gulihur and Ana Paula Melilo take on the NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Championships in Champaign, Ill., beginning May 23.

Gulihur will not only compete in the singles championship but also the doubles championship alongside Melilo.

1. Details on the Field and Championships
The doubles field features 32 pairs, while the singles field is comprised of 64 individuals. The bracket follows a single-elimination format, with each round being played over one day.

Winners of the doubles title will have to win five matches, while singles champions have to take home six-straight wins.

All matches will be played at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex, weather permitting.

2. The Field
As an automatic qualifier, Gulihur joins student-athletes from UCF, VCU, Virginia, Texas, Ohio State, UC Santa Barbara, William & Mary, Old Dominion, Princeton, San Diego State, USC, South Carolina, Furman and Pepperdine.

As for doubles, Gulihur and Melilo join automatic bids from institutions such as Tulane, NC State, Baylor, Ohio State, Old Dominion, Stanford, Texas A&M, Furman and Pepperdine.

Singles play also includes another 49 at-large selections, as does doubles.

3. Kit and Ana in 2021-22
2021-22 will go down as a very special year for Gulihur in singles and Gulihur and Melilo as doubles partners. Gulihur is fresh off becoming the first-ever Osprey named to the NCAA Elite 90 honor, another award added to Gulihur's trophy case that already included a slew of awards.

Gulihur was named 2022 ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Player of the Year, First Team All-ASUN, All-Academic and a four-time ASUN Player of the Week. Melilo joined Gulihur as ASUN Doubles Pair of the Year, with the duo winning the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional Doubles Title to advance to nationals. Together they earned a historic No. 5 ITA Doubles Ranking.

Another academic honor was brought in for Gulihur, as the conference player of the year was the first-ever College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District First Team honoree in program history.

4. More Notes from the NCAA
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 23-28 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois, after the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 20-22. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will serve as host.

All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.

Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125 for eligible/entered singles players. For conferences with more than one singles player within the ITA Top 125 eligible/entered singles players, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which student-athlete is the automatic qualifier from those conferences. All singles players must have a minimum of 13 started singles matches, with six matches in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.

Automatic qualification into the Division I doubles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible doubles teams ranked in the ITA Top 60 for eligible/entered doubles teams. For conferences with more than one doubles team within the ITA Top 60 eligible/entered doubles teams, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which doubles team is the automatic qualifier from those conferences. All doubles teams must have started a minimum of 10 doubles matches, with a minimum of four matches in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.

First Serve - Gulihur and Melilo Conclude Season at Singles and Doubles Championships

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Players Mentioned

Kit Gulihur

Ana Paula Melilo

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