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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the eighth straight year, Embry-Riddle will host the USTA/ITA Florida Tennis Regional. Officials announced the draws for the 2012 edition of the annual event on Tuesday afternoon.  The four-day tournament gets underway at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27 at ERAU's Ambassador E. William Crotty Tennis Complex and is one of 85 regional tournaments being played across the country this fall. The event features male and female student-athletes from eight institutions, including Ave Maria, Embry-Riddle, Northwood, SCAD Savannah, St. Thomas, Webber International and Warner.

The men's tournament features three players ranked in the Top 15 of the final ITA/NAIA national poll of the 2012 season and will. Embry-Riddle senior Chris Freeman comes in as the No. 1 seed and the defending ITA/NAIA singles national champion. A two-time Sun Conference Player of the Year, Freeman was ranked second in the national singles poll, was a first team All-American and finished with a 23-9 overall record. He will team up with freshman J.R. Leonik as the second-seeded doubles team.

Patrick Besch comprised one half of the doubles team that captured the 2011 ITA regional and national doubles crowns and went wire-to-wire as the top ranked duo in the nation. Besch's doubles partner Adrian Bayh has graduated but 10th-ranked Besch, a second team All-American, will team up with another All-America selection, Simon Felix, as the top-seeded duo in this weekend's tournament. Now a junior, Felix posted a 22-9 singles ledger in 2011 and was ranked 14th in the final national singles poll.

New singles and doubles champions will be crowned on the women's side with the graduation of last year's singles champion Rocio Frej Vitalle and doubles champions Yi Ching Chen and Josefine Strom.

SCAD Savannah senior Theresa Schmaus comes in as the tournament's top seed. Schmaus battled Frej Vitalle in last year's singles championship match and closed out the 2011-12 season ranked 22 in the nation. Schmaus, who was ranked fourth in tandem with Magdalena Bresson in the doubles poll, will team up with Maja Pasvic as the top-seeded doubles team in the tournament.

Embry-Riddle freshman Hui-I Huang and junior Kristina Marova round out the top three seeds.

The USTA/ITA Regional Championships got underway on Sept. 13 and features some of the top men's and women's players competing in each of the ITA's regions across the country over the course of two months. Over 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete in the USTA/ITA Regional Championships held at 85 different college campuses across the country.
 
The Small College (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College) singles and doubles champions from the USTA/ITA Regional Championships will advance to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, held October 11-14 at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama. The USTA/ITA National Small College Championships are comprised of the eight regional champions (and/or at-large selections) from NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges.
 
The USTA/ITA National Small College Championship is the only national championship event for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA levels. It is also the only tournament that combines all levels of Junior/Community College (NJCAA Divisions I and III and the California division). The singles and doubles champions at each divisional level will then compete to become the overall "Super Bowl" champions. The "Super Bowl" champions earn wild cards into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
 
The most unique element of the USTA/ITA Intercollegiate Championships program is the fact that all levels of varsity college tennis (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College) are competing in one comprehensive event, and any ITA varsity student-athlete has the opportunity to play and win at the prestigious USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.