Tribe Opens Season at No. 15

W&M had a trio of singles players and two doubles team ranked in the national standings.

01/09/08 11:15AM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary women’s tennis team was ranked No. 15 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings released on Jan. 8. It was the same spot in which the Tribe finished the 2007 campaign after the College went 22-3 overall and advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time since the 2003 season. W&M was also well represented in the singles and doubles rankings with three singles players and a pair of doubles team in the national standings.

Senior Megan Moulton-Levy led the way in singles at No. 12. The Monroe, Mich., native finished the fall season at 8-2 in singles and became only the third women’s player in school history to win 100-plus matches in both singles and doubles. Sophomore Ragini Acharya earned a career-high ranking of No. 55 after completing the fall season at 13-5 overall, including three victories over nationally ranked foes. Junior Katarina Zoricic rounded out the ranked Tribe sin-gles players at No. 83. She recorded seven singles victories during the fall, while knocking off a trio of nationally ranked opponents.

Zoricic also earned a spot on a pair of nationally ranked doubles teams along with Acharya and Moulton-Levy. Zoricic and Acharya garnered the No. 27 spot in the rankings at 5-2 overall. The pair tallied a two wins over nationally ranked opponents during the fall. Zoricic and Moulton-Levy held down the No. 45 position in the national doubles rankings. The tandem was 7-3 during the fall season and advanced to the finals of the ITA East Region Championship.

The Tribe will face a loaded schedule in 2008 with 15 of its 19 dual matches coming against nationally ranked oppo-nents. Those numbers do not include the College’s participation in the prestigious ITA National Team Indoor Champi-onships in February. Here is a look at the nationally ranked opponents the Tribe will face in 2008:
No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 California, No. 7 Northwestern, No. 13 Baylor, No. 14 Fresno State, No. 21 Wake Forest, No. 24 Texas, No. 35 VCU, No. 36 TCU, No. 38 Colorado, No. 39 Virginia, No. 53 Arkansas, No. 54 Pennsylvania, No. 65 Marshall and No. 68 Princeton. The 21st ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships field will include 14 of the top 15 teams nationally in the 16-team tournament.

W&M opens the 2008 dual-match season on the road against a pair of Big Ten opponents. The College will travel to East Lansing, Mich., to face Michigan State on Jan. 19, before meeting No. 7 Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., on Jan. 20. The Tribe will see a familiar face on the opposing sidelines against the Spartans as former Tribe assistant coach Er-ica Perkins is currently the head coach at Michigan State. W&M’s first home match is slated for Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. against No. 21 Wake Forest.

ITA National Top 25
1. Georgia Tech (25)
2. Stanford
3. UCLA (1)
4. Florida
5. Georgia
6. California
7. Northwestern
8. USC
9. Notre Dame
10. Clemson
11. Miami (Fla.)
12. North Carolina
13. Baylor
14. Fresno State
15. WILLIAM AND MARY
16. Vanderbilt
17. Duke
18. Pepperdine
19. Arizona State
20. Florida State
21. Wake Forest
22. Tennessee
23. Michigan
24. Texas
25. Indiana
W&M opponents in italics