Jan. 29, 2010
Women's ITA Tournament Central
WACO, Texas - Baylor's fifth-ranked women's tennis team will begin its 2010 season at home against No. 66 Harvard at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Baylor Tennis Center. The Lady Bears will then play either No. 65 Brown or No. 69 Nevada on Sunday.
"This is a huge weekend for us," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "To have two of the strongest teams in the Ivy League and an up-and-coming team like Nevada here is just a great opportunity for our players to test themselves and see where we stand."
The 2009-10 version of the Lady Bears returns six players including All-Americans Lenka Broosova and Csilla Borsanyi, as well as all-Big 12 selections Jelena Stanivuk and Taylor Ormond. Last season's 27-5 team finished the season with a No. 6 national ranking and a berth in the Elite Eight before a loss to Notre Dame knocked them out of the tournament. Broosova and Borsanyi then teamed up to make a spectacular run to the Final Four of the NCAA Doubles Championships, but fell to California.
Broosova, a senior ranked No. 17, enters 2010 tied for the BU career record for singles wins with 127 and has been a three-time all-Big 12 singles selection and a two-time all-Big 12 doubles honoree. Borsanyi, also a senior ranked No. 70, made an equally large impact after transferring from Florida. The Siofok, Hungary, native not only earned all-Big 12 singles and doubles honors, but was named the Big 12 Tournament MVP and an NCAA All-American.
"Our seniors, Lenka Broosova and Csilla Borsanyi bring so much to the table," Scrivano said. "Lenka is an unbelievable performer on the court, but she has so many intangibles that bring the team together. That is becoming contagious throughout the whole team."
Much of that leadership spills over onto Ormond, Stanivuk and Nina Secerbegovic, who had a breakout fall. Ormond, who played in the No. 1 singles position for Baylor last season, and Stanivuk, who racked up a team best 34 wins in 2008-09, both have the experience necessary to help continue Baylor's run of five consecutive Big 12 titles and five straight trips to at least the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament.
Secerbegovic, on the other hand, may be the wild card for Scrivano. The sophomore from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ended 2008-09 ranked No. 123 with a record of 24-3, but after going 9-2 in the fall and reaching the finals of the ITA Texas Regional, her ranking sky-rocketed to No. 24 to begin this spring.
"All of these girls are leaders and help the team in different ways," Scrivano said. "We are really expecting everybody this year to help with that. If you only have one leader on your team, you are not going to be very good. You need everybody to make a difference."
Meanwhile, Scrivano continues to challenge his team to make the next step up the ladder in the NCAA. In the past five seasons, the Lady Bears have made the Round of 16 twice, the Elite Eight twice, and the Final Four once in 2008. With the taste of those close calls, the veteran-laden will be challenged with one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The Lady Bears will face 17 teams currently ranked in the top 70 of the ITA National Team Rankings, including 10 of the top 30. Opponents include No. 2 Northwestern, No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 7 Miami, and and No. 9 USC from the top 10.
"Without question, we play one of the toughest schedules in the country," Scrivano said. "The reason we do that is to challenge our players. We really believe that you can't get better unless you are pushed on a daily basis. We push our players in practice every day and challenge them to be better competitors."
