May 3, 2011
NCAA Championship Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS - Baylor's fifth-seeded women's tennis team was selected as a host for the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship on May 14-15. The Lady Bears will be making their seventh consecutive and 14th overall appearance in the NCAA Championships.
Baylor is led by head coach Joey Scrivano, who will be making his 11th appearance in the NCAA tournament as a head coach, including his eighth at the helm of the Baylor program. The Lady Bears have made the Round of 16 in each of the last six seasons, including four appearances in the Elite Eight and a Final Four berth in 2008.
"It is always nice to host and it's great for Baylor nation and the Waco community," Scrivano said. "We just have to focus on practicing and getting better. UTA is a regional opponent that we have seen a lot of, and we know Oklahoma very well, too."
Baylor will be joined by their first-round opponent UT-Arlington, along with Oklahoma and Cal Poly. UTA will take on the Lady Bears at Noon on Saturday, just after the conclusion of a 9 a.m. tilt between OU and Cal Poly. The winners play on Sunday at 2 p.m. for a chance to advance to the Round of 16.
"I am really excited that we get to host," senior Taylor Ormond said. "It is nice because we get two more matches on our home courts, and we don't have to travel. We really believe the next match is our most important. I think we are still getting better, and we have two weeks now to practice hard and prepare for our next match."
Scrivano's club won their seventh consecutive Big 12 regular season title and their sixth consecutive Big 12 Tournament title this season. Baylor will enter the NCAAs with a record of 25-3, including a 10-1 mark in Big 12 play.
The Lady Bears feature a veteran lineup with three seniors and three juniors, including four ranked singles players and one ranked doubles tandem. In singles, BU's three juniors take the top three positions in the lineup, led by 14th-ranked Sona Novakova, who boasts a 29-10 record. No. 47 Diana Nakic, fresh off being named the Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding player, will enter the NCAA Championship on a 17-match win streak with a 26-6 overall singles mark. No. 49 Nina Secerbegovic has the highest dual-match win percentage for the Lady Bears at 24-2.
Baylor's trio of seniors holds down the bottom of the lineup, with No. 112 Jelena Stanivuk and her 23-2 record on the season. In the final two spots, Karolina Filipiak and Ormond have clinched big points for Baylor at crucial times this season. Filipiak is second on the team in singles wins at 27-11, while Ormond has started to regain her form after preseason injuries held her out of the fall. The senior has won has her last five matches, all in straight sets.
In doubles, Baylor has spent a majority of the season testing different combinations, providing an element of versatility. The duo of Nina Secerbegovic and Karolina Filipiak in the No. 1 position is Baylor's ranked pair at No. 70 in the latest ITA rankings.
Check www.BaylorBears.com for a tournament preview, live scoring, and recaps. The winner of Sunday's match will move on to the championship site in Palo Alto, Calif., from May 19-24.
