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ITA Conference Masters preview

November 4, 2026 3:00 pm

Three wins and you’re into the NCAA singles championship draw. That’s an exciting prospect for the 32 women selected by their conferences for the ITA Conference Masters event in Rome, Georgia.

Thirty-six of 64 spots in the NCAA championships have already been decided — 10 coming from ITA All Americans and 26 from ITA Regionals — and 28 more will be given out this weekend, between the ITA Sectionals and this Masters event.

Semifinalists in Rome will earn a bid to Athens [insert classical philosophy joke], and for the power-conference participants, their chances look pretty solid. There are six ranked players in the field — Anastasiia Grechkina (Pepperdine) (16), Kyoka Kubo (Kansas) (42), Reese Miller (Michigan) (50), Alexis Nguyen (UNC) (85), Linea Bajraliu (Georgia) (80), Xin Tong Wang (Wichita State) (117) — and many of the other contestants hail from smaller conferences/schools.

The top of the draw features No. 1 seed Bajraliu, with the draw seeded by WTN. The No. 2 newcomer is rated at 11.91 on that front, and is looking to join fellow Georgia freshman Bella Payne in the championship. Entering the event with a record of 8-3, Bajraliu has already played two of the players in the field this year at the Kitty Harrison Invitational, beating Nguyen 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 and falling to Miller 1-6, 1-6.

In her way at the top quarter is the top-ranked player Grechkina, who has looked shaky so far this fall with a record of 3-3. But her wins have been notable as she beat No. 56 Julia Zhu (Kentucky) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 and No. 2 Carmen Herea (Texas) 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 at All Americans. To be fair, Herea has not looked great either.

In any case, that will be an interesting quarterfinal match if both players beat who they’re supposed to. Sofia Barbulescu (Richmond) has a puncher’s chance as the A-10 singles champion and All-Americans participant.

The second quarter looks like a toss-up between Wang and Furman’s Lillie Murphy, who fell just short of qualifying for the NCAA doubles championship at All Americans alongside partner Elle Warren. That pair will have one last shot as they compete in the Conference Masters doubles event as well.

The third quarter will likely be a battle between Kubo and 2025 Ivy League Player of the Year Gayathri Krishnan (Columbia). Krishnan earned her spot as the 2026 Ivy League singles champion, taking down her teammate Emily Baek in the final.

The bottom quarter features the two aforementioned players who faced Bajraliu at the Kitty Harrison Invitational, Nguyen and Miller. Nguyen has looked poised early in her freshman campaign, having fallen just short of NCAA qualification in the Carolina Regional. She will get another chance in Rome with less of a barrier in the way. Miller is 4-4 so far this season and has lost three of her last four matches, albeit to steep competition in Irina Balus (Duke), Piper Charney (Michigan) — two players that are in the NCAA field — and rival Anna Bennett (Ohio State).

New to this year’s competition, there are no byes for extra slots. The 32nd spot in the draw was decided by lottery, given to the MAC conference and Aleksandra Kachushkina of Buffalo.