The Portland women's tennis team will take part in the prestigious ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Duke regional site on Friday and Saturday. Portland, ranked No. 67 in this week's ITA Rankings, will take on host and 16th-ranked Duke on Friday at 10:30 a.m. (PT). No. 29 Mississippi State and No. 37 Florida State will also play on Friday and the subsequent winners/losers will face off on Saturday. Regional winners will move on to the 2016 ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Live stats and live video will be provided courtesy of Duke.

Saturday's consolation match will begin at noon (PT) and the championship match is scheduled for 3 p.m. (PT).

The ITA Kick-Off Weekend features 24 host sites with most of the top nationally-ranked programs competing. Fans are encouraged to follow all the action using #ITAkickoff

The Pilots (0-1) dropped its season opener to No. 57 Washington on the road last weekend. Portland features an experienced roster of seven seniors, a junior and two freshmen.

Senior Lucia Butkovska won her opening dual singles match at UW and anchors the top of the lineup, while senior Maja Mladenovic is a three-time All-West Coast Conference performer.

Portland is coming off of a banner 2015 spring season which included a bevy of first-time program achievements. Despite featuring just one senior, the Pilots cracked the ITA National Rankings (high of No. 48), had two players individually ranked in the same season (Lucia Butkovska and Maja Mladenovic), defeated a top 50 opponent (No. 33 Saint Mary's), beat in-state rival Oregon, finished second in the WCC regular season, reached the conference title match, and were the top-ranked team out of the Pacific Northwest in the final ITA National Rankings (No. 64).

Duke (1-0) defeated Elon to open the season and has four singles player ranked in the top 80 of the ITA singles rankings this week, led by Beatrice Capra (No. 18) and Kaitlyn McCarthy (No. 19). Capra teams with Ellyse Hamlin as the No. 26-ranked doubles team in the nation.

Mississippi State (2-0) swept Alcorn State twice in preparation for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Jasmine Lee is ranked No. 13 in ITA singles, while Anastasia Rentouli is No. 36. The doubles tandem of Jennifer Brown and Kristina Vozniak is ranked No. 53.

Florida State (2-0) already has a pair of wins over ranked opponents with victories against Old Dominion and Tulane. The doubles team of Daneika Borthwick and Yukako Noi is ranked No. 41 in the ITA rankings.