North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Tennis Heads to NCAA Championships
5/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NO. 39 WOLFPACK READY FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: The NC State women’s tennis team will play its first match of the 2007 NCAA Championships at 1:00 pm on May 12 as the No. 3 seed Wolfpack takes on the No. 2 seed, Auburn. The Tigers are ranked No. 31 nationally by the ITA. Auburn currently has one singles player and one doubles team ranked. Fani Chifchieva is ranked No. 16 in singles and the team of Alex Haney and Melissa Mang are ranked No. 13 in the nation.
The match is the first of the NCAA Championships and the winner will move on to face either No. 1 seed Georgia or No. 4 seed South Carolina State on Sunday May 13 at 12 pm. Georgia is ranked No. 2 in the nation by the ITA and has four players ranked in the top-75 in the nation. They also have the No. 7 doubles tandem in the nation.
WOLFPACK DOWNS SIX RANKED FOES: The No. 39 NC State women’s tennis team has won six matches over ranked opponents this season. NC State just defeated No. 18 Duke to close the regular season marking the highest ranked team the Wolfpack has ever defeated. The Pack defeated No. 69 Rice, 5-2, before downing No. 40 SMU in impressive fashion, 5-2, on a road trip earlier this season. The Pack then handed No. 34 South Carolina their first loss of the season, 6-1, on Feb. 24. Three weekends ago the squad traveled to Blacksburg and swept No. 69 Virginia Tech, 7-0, before defeating No. 75 Maryland, 7-0.
PACK MAINTAINS POSITION IN LATEST ITA POLL: NC State stayed at the same in the latest ITA rankings to clock in at No. 39 after its close 4-3 loss to No. 47 Virginia in the ACC Championships. All of the Wolfpack’s ten losses this season have come at the hands of ranked opponents, including three of the last four loses against top-11 teams. State has won its 13 matches by a combined team score of 78-13.
DOUBLE THE POWER: NC State’s combination of sophomore Alejandra Guerra and freshman Daria Petrovic have posted an impressive 16-6 record at No. 1 doubles. The duo is ranked as the No. 24 doubles tandem nationally by the ITA. On March 9th they defeated the No. 23 doubles team from Florida State and have defeated three top-10 doubles teams in their last five matches. Guerra and Petrovic dropped the No. 9 team from Clemson, No. 3 team from UNC and the No. 5 team from Duke. The Wolfpack tandem was ranked No. 15 in the region heading into the spring season after posting a 9-2 mark in the fall.
PETROVIC REMAINS RANKED: Freshman Daria Petrovic earned a preseason spring ranking of No. 43 after posting a 10-4 mark in the fall. Petrovic was ranked No. 99 in the first rankings of the spring and has continued that success with 10 wins, all at No. 1 singles, to jump to No. 86 in the rankings. She currently checks in at No. 95 nationally.
Petrovic has also combined with Alejandra Guerra to hold a team-best 16-6 mark at No. 1 doubles this spring, including an 8-3 record in the ACC.
SEEING GREEN: London native and NC State freshman Kate Green has made the most of her time across the pond this spring by posting a 16-6 record this spring, second on the team. She is an impressive 14-2 at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, including a 9-1 mark at No. 5.
In ACC play Green is 7-4 overall but a perfect 6-0 at No. 5 against league foes.
IMPORTANCE OF THE DOUBLES POINT: Throughout the season it has become apparent that the doubles point is very important to the outcome of the match. In 12 of the Wolfpack’s 13 wins this season the team has captured the doubles point and in seven of the ten losses they have lost the doubles point. The difference in the 4-3 loss to No. 32 Florida International and No. 18 Wake Forest was literally the doubles point, as NC State narrowly lost the point in both matches, 2-1, before splitting the six singles showdowns.
NC State took the doubles point against No. 11 UNC, including a win at No. 1 singles over the nation’s No. 3 tandem, before dropping a match for the first time this season when winning the early point.
ROACH ENJOYS SUCCESS: Julia Roach started off the spring season with a perfect 9-0 record in singles competition and is currently 15-7. She has competed at No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles for the Wolfpack this season, posting a 7-2 mark at No. 4 singles.
Six of her losses have come against teams that are ranked in the top-30 nationally and Roach is the active career leader in singles and doubles wins for the Wolfpack.
FOUR WITH 14 WINS OR MORE: Four Wolfpack netters have posted a spring singles record of 14 wins or more in singles competition. Green leads the team with a 16-6 mark, while Alejandra Guerra (15-7), Berkeley Brock (14-8) and Julia Roach (15-7) have all had solid seasons.
Overall (including fall singles) as a team, NC State has won 62% of its singles matches with 157 wins to just 95 losses.
FRESHMEN MAKE IMPACT IN SPRING: Out of the 11 members of the 2007 squad, five are freshmen. Those five freshmen - Catherine Grotz, Kate Green, Daria Petrovic, Berkeley Brock, Kristen Bleakley - have combined for 44 of the 83 wins in dual singles action this spring.
FRONT TO BACK: NC State has won 61% of its singles matches and 62% of its doubles matches in the spring and has been solid from the front to the back of the lineup in both. College coaches will tell you that strength at the bottom of your lineup is very important, and NC State fits that mold perfectly.
The Wolfpack squad is an impressive 18-4 at No. 5 singles and 14-9 at No. 6, for an eye-popping 32-13 mark at the bottom two spots.
In comparison, NC State holds a combined 23-23 mark at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and is 28-18 in the middle of the lineup at No. 3 and No. 4.
Those marks hold strong in ACC play as well, with the Wolfpack posting an 13-10 mark at No. 5 and No. 6 and a 21-27 mark at the top-4 spots combined.
GUERRA EN FUEGO: Sophomore Alejandra Guerra has won eight of her last 11 matches including three straight over opponents from No. 11 UNC (at No. 3 singles), No. 18 Duke (at No. 2 singles) and No. 47 Virginia (at No. 2 singles).
Perhaps more impressive has been her play at No. 1 doubles with partner Daria Petrovic. The duo is now ranked No. 24 nationally after posting three top-10 doubles wins - including two top-5 wins - in the last three weeks. The team has four top-25 doubles wins this season and is 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the ACC at the No. 1 spot.
