WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - After moving into the Campbell's ITA National Rankings for
the first time this season on Wednesday, the William and Mary women's tennis team will open
Colonial Athletic play against UNCW on Saturday afternoon. The Tribe hosts the
Seahawks at 5 p.m. at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. Live stats will be available for the match at TribeAthletics.com.
New for the 2013 dual match season, the
ITA Women's Tennis Hall of Fame, which is housed in the McCormack-Nagelsen
Tennis Center, will be open for fans to enjoy during Tribe home matches at the
facility. The ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame was created to
celebrate the milestones in women's collegiate tennis. The Hall of Fame aspires
to preserve the history and further the development of women's intercollegiate
tennis through the collection of printed materials, trophies, photographs,
equipment and other significant items.
The Green and Gold moved into the No. 53 spot in the
national ranking released on Wednesday, thanks to a 4-2 dual-match mark. Last
week, the Tribe upset No. 19-ranked Mississippi, 4-3, on Jan. 22, before
splitting a pair of matches against nationally-ranked competition in Boston.
W&M bounced the host and No. 71 Harvard, 5-2, on Friday, before dropping a nailbiter to No. 64
Kansas State, 4-3, on Saturday. Senior
Anik Cepeda and junior
Hope Johnson both posted 3-0
marks during the week. Junior
Jeltje Loomans clinched the Green and Gold win
over Ole Miss with a three-set victory at the No. 2 spot, while also picking up a triumph against the Crimson.
UNCW will open the 2013 dual-match campaign against James
Madison on Friday in Norfolk, Va. The Seahawk are led by first-year head coach
Evan Clark, who took over the program at the beginning of the 2012-13 campaign
after serving as an assistant coach at Maryland. UNCW returns seven players
from last season's team, which posted a 15-7 mark and was ranked as high as No.
67 nationally. Leading the way for the Seahawks are a trio of returning All-CAA
players in sophomore Alyssa Ritchie, who was the CAA Rookie of the Year in
2012, as well as juniors Kelly Cameron and Angie Sekely.
W&M leads the all-time series against UNCW at 7-0. The last
regular season meeting between the CAA rivals was in 2003. The teams met in the 2011 post season as the Green and
Gold blanked the Seahawks, 4-0, in the CAA semifinals. Both Loomans and
Cepeda picked up singles wins in the Tribe victory.
Following the match with the UNCW, W&M will travel to
Blacksburg, Va., to face Virginia Tech on Saturday, Feb. 9, at noon. The Tribe
returns home, opening a four-match homestand against West Virginia on Saturday,
Feb. 16, before welcoming No. 30 South Carolina to Williamsburg on Sunday, Feb.
17.
