2006-07 Women's Tennis Preview

01/23/07 6:30PM

- The Tribe standard of excellence in women’s tennis grows with each passing season, and the 2006-07 version appears to be on track to raise the bar yet again. W&M returns the majority of its lineup from a season ago, while adding one of the top freshman classes in the country. Three Tribe returners are ranked among the top-100 in the ITA singles rankings to start the year, while the Tribe’s four-member freshman class was ranked No. 2 by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

A season ago, the Tribe finished the year ranked No. 27 nationally, after earning its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance. W&M has earned a spot in the NCAA Championships in 11 of the last 12 years. The team’s success also translated into tremendous individual accolades as W&M student-athletes claimed CAA Rookie of the Year, CAA Player of the Year and All-America honors. In its third season under head coach Kevin Epley, the Tribe went 16-9, including a victory over then-No. 5 Duke.

Senior Megan Moulton-Levy and sophomore Katarina Zoricic headline the Tribe’s returning players. The pair teamed to win the program’s second national championship, taking home of the ITA National Indoor Championship in November (2006). The duo advanced to the NCAA Doubles Championship a season ago and finished the fall with an impressive 18-1 mark. The Tribe pair was not only ranked No. 1 in the East Region, but No. 1 nationally at the conclusion of the fall campaign.

Moulton-Levy came into the season after having become the first W&M player to advance to the NCAA Singles Championship semifinals on her way to earning All-America accolades for the second time in her career in 2005-06. Moulton-Levy also garnered the Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship as well as CAA co-Player of the Year honors for the second-straight season. She continued her impressive play during the fall of 2006. Moulton-Levy finished the fall ranked No. 5 nationally in singles and No. 1 in the East Region. In the two individual national championship events during the fall, Moulton-Levy advanced to the quarterfinals of the All-American Championship and the semifinals of the National Indoor Championship. She is the only player in the country to advance to at least the quarterfinals of the last three national championship events.

Zoricic wrapped up her rookie season in 2005-06 with a 25-9 record and ranked 86th in the final ITA rankings. She was selected as the CAA’s Co-Rookie of the Year and earned first team all-conference honors in both singles and doubles. At the conclusion of the fall season, Zoricic was ranked No. 5 in the East Region and No. 68 in the ITA singles rankings.

Sophomore Klaudyna Kasztelaniec enjoyed a break out fall season for the Tribe. The Krakow, Poland native led W&M in singles victories with 13, including a pair of ranked opponents. Kasztelaniec also garnered the first national ranking of her career, finishing the fall ranked No. 59 in the singles rankings. She also turned in an impressive fall season in doubles, going 11-2 overall and winning a pair of championships.

Sophomore Barbara Zidek is one of the Tribe’s three returning First-Team All-CAA performers from a season ago. She was a first-team doubles player at the conclusion of her freshman year, while leading the Tribe in doubles victories at 23-11. Zidek finished the fall season with a 9-6 singles mark, winning the B-2 Flight at the Hampton Roads Invitational.

The Tribe’s heralded freshman class showed flashes of excellence throughout the fall season, giving W&M a glimpse at a bright future. The four-member class of Ragini Acharya, Magdalena Bresson, Carmen Pop and Lauren Sabacinski went a combined 33-13 (.717) in singles and 26-11 (.703) in doubles during the fall season. Along with being ranked the No. 2 class overall in the Tennis Recruiting Network Rankings, the Tribe quartet held the top spot in the network’s Mid-Major rankings as well.

Acharya was ranked No. 14 nationally by the Tennis Recruiting Network. In 2005-06, she amassed an overall singles mark of 46-9 and has been ranked as high as No. 12 on July 5, 2006 by the network. In the July 19 USTA Girls’ 18 national rankings, Acharya came in at No. 8. During the fall, she finished with a 6-4 record and was ranked No. 29 in the East Region in singles.

Bresson was ranked as high as No. 9 nationally by the Tennis Recruiting Network and was the No. 2 player in the state of Florida. She reached at least the quarterfinals of 12 USTA singles tournaments since March 2003. During the fall, Bresson went 9-6 in singles and 10-3 in doubles. She captured the B-1 Flight at the Hampton Roads Invitational in October.

Pop is the lone international student-athlete of the group and is ranked among the top 60 singles players and the top 40 doubles players in all of Holland. During her career, Pop has been ranked among the country’s top 10 players in her age group, winning several national junior tournaments. The Nymegen, Holland native was just as impressive during the fall of her rookie campaign. Pop won all 10 of her singles matching, winning a pair of fall championships along the way.

Despite missing part of the fall with an injury, Sabacinski went 8-3 in singles and 6-3 in doubles. She won the C-1 Flight at the Hampton Roads Invitational with four straight wins. She also knocked off the first ranked player of her career at the Kitty Harrison Invitational in November. Sabacinski was ranked as high as No. 22 according to the Tennis Recruiting Network, including the No. 5 ranking in the state of Florida.

After competing her first three seasons, senior Alexandra de Guzman has moved over to being a player coach for the 2006-07 season. During her career, de Guzman won 20 singles and 27 doubles matches. She is not the only addition to the sidelines as head coach Kevin Epley added Matt Halfpenny to the staff as the men’s assistant coach. Halfpenny was an assistant coach at N.C. State before joining the Tribe staff. Halfpenny was also an assistant men’s tennis coach at Brown, following a stellar playing career at Charleston Southern where he was a three-time All-Big South performer.

The College’s 2007 schedule is once again loaded with top-level competition. The Tribe will look for its 19th CAA Championship and will play a schedule loaded with 13 teams ranked among the national top 75, including six Top-25 programs. W&M will face No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Northwestern, No. 13 VCU, No. 18 Wake Forest, No. 22 Harvard, No. 25 Virginia, No. 37 Maryland, No. 40 Purdue, No. 47 Arkansas, No. 56 Colorado, No. 58 Denver, No. 60 Marshall and No. 72 Richmond during the 2007 season.