URBANA, Ill. - William and Mary junior
Maria Belaya suffered a setback in the first round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Singles Championship on Wednesday afternoon at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill.
Belaya fell to No. 20-ranked Kyle McPhillips of UCLA, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round. McPhillips won her 14th straight match, improving to 34-8 on the year, and earned a spot in the second round where she will face the winner of No. 9-16 seed Petra Niedermayerova from Kansas State and No. 25-ranked Kristie Ahn of Stanford.
Belaya, who was ranked as high as No. 116 nationally, finished the season at 21-13, including a pair of wins over national top-60 opponents. The Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, Belaya earned a bid to the 64-player national tournament as the automatic bid from the CAA, becoming the 20th different Tribe player on the 32nd occasion to compete in the event.
Belaya and junior
Jeltje Loomans will compete in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship, beginning on Thursday. The Tribe duo, which is ranked No. 13 nationally, will take on the No. 10-ranked Auburn team of Pleun Burgmans and Plamena Kurteva in the first round at 6:30 p.m. ET. Belaya and Loomans are making their second straight appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championship, becoming just the third W&M pair to earn multiple bids to the event.
The 2013 NCAA Championships are being hosted by the University of Illinois at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill. Live scoring and video doubles event will be available on the Web at FightingIllini.com.