Every year, a select 32 singles players in college tennis make it to the ITA National Indoor Championship.

When the tournament kicks off today in Charlottesville, Va., the Cal women's tennis team will be well represented.

No. 7 Marina Cossou, No. 22 Claire Ilcinkas and No. 65 Bojana Bobusic head to the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club-home of host Virginia-to compete in the singles draw of the Championships, which also features a field of 16 doubles teams.

"Here, you have the top 32 players in the country," Cal coach Amanda Augustus said. "You either get here by your preseason national ranking, doing well at the All-American championships, or making the finals of the regional tournament."

Ilcinkas earned an at-large bid to the Indoor tournament through being named a 2007-2008 All-American. More recently, Bobusic earned her spot by defeating No. 4 Hilary Barte of Stanford to advance to the final round of the Wilson/ITA Northwest Regional Championship.

And it was Cossou's progression to the semifinal round at the All-American Championships in early October that resulted in her bid to this weekend's Indoors. She heads into the tournament with a 10-3 overall preseason singles record.

"The best players are going to be here, so I can only do the best I can," Cossou said.

The fifth-seeded Cossou get her shot beginning this morning at 11 a.m. PT, when she faces Bianca Aboubakare of Brown in the Round of 32.

Ilcinkas drew No. 7 seed Georgia Rose of Northwestern for her first-round match today at 9:00 a.m., while Bobusic will open against similarly unseeded Marrit Boonstra of Florida at 8:30 a.m.

As this weekend marks one of the three major tournaments in college tennis, such competitive opposition should prove to be advantageous for the Cal players that have earned spots as participants.

"This is a great opportunity to showcase where we are in comparison to other top players nationally," Augustus said. "This is just a chance for them to play the best players and improve and learn."

Part of that learning process came in the days leading up to the tournament, as the Bears trio had to move their practices indoors.

Augustus's use of the San Francisco Tennis Club for this week's practices was focused on acclimating players to the speed of playing in an enclosed atmosphere.

"When playing indoors, you have to adjust to a faster court and get used to the lighting during the matches," Augustus said.

Despite having to get used to new surroundings, Augustus has significantly high hopes for her players' performance in Virginia this weekend.

"I'd like to see one of the Bears make it through the final day, and hopefully we could have two Bears in the final and three in the semis," Augustus said.

"The Indoor will be one of their last tournaments before we start the team season, so they will try to pull off a win entering the season tournaments coming up."

Tags: CAL WOMEN'S TENNIS, MARINA COSSOU, CLAIRE ILCINKAS, BOJANA BOBUSIC