Feb. 17, 2011
Championship Central
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - After nearly three weeks without a match, Baylor's third-ranked women's tennis team will be back on the court against the toughest competition in the nation at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship from Feb. 18-21 in Charlottesville, Va.
The Lady Bears will take on the 23rd-ranked host University of Virginia in the first round of the 16-team ITA national title field at 11:30 a.m. CT/12:30 p.m. ET on Friday at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The field features all 16 teams ranked in the top 25 and nine of the NCAA's top 10.
Baylor qualified for the championship field with back-to-back 4-3 wins over then-No. 55 Alabama and then-No. 48 Rice in a regional qualifier hosted at the Baylor Tennis Center. In both matches, junior Sona Novakova scored the matches' clinching point with a three-set victory.
BU enters the weekend with four ranked singles players and one ranked doubles pair, including two singles in the top 30. Novakova earned a No. 12 ranking with a 14-2 record thus far, while Diana Nakic is ranked 30th with a 5-3 singles mark. Junior Nina Secerbegovic is 5-2 this season in singles and is ranked 53rd, while Karolina Filipiak is 14-14 and ranked 116th.
In doubles, the fall-season duo of Novakova and Secerbegovic is ranked 33rd with a 6-1 record, including a 2-0 mark against ranked opponents.
Baylor is 1-0 all-time against Virginia, with a 6-1 win during the 2008 season. In that match, current BU seniors Jelena Stanivuk and Filipiak each collected straight-set victories at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively. Stanivuk teamed with current senior Taylor Ormond for a doubles win at No. 2 to help Baylor earned the doubles point.
The Boar's Head Sports Club features 12 DecoTurf indoor courts, including six in the stadium with seating for 1,200 fans. The facility is the indoor home of the Virginia tennis teams and has also hosted the 2010 ITA Men's National Team Indoor Championships, the 2008 ITA National Indoor Individual Championships and events on the USTA Challenger Circuit.
On Saturday, the winner of the Baylor/Virginia match will player the winner of the No. 6 Duke/No. 11 Tennessee match also slated for 11:30 a.m. CT/12:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
