Women's Tennis Faces Stanford in NCAA Sweet Sixteen
5/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 15, 2001
Stone Mountain, Ga. -
Wake Forest Women's Tennis News & Notes
2001 NCAA Team Championships * May 17-20 * Lincoln Tennis Center * Stone Mountain, Ga.
Round of 16 * #17 Wake Forest vs. #1 Stanford * Thursday, May 17
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2000-01 Demon Deacons at a Glance...
Overall Record: 18-8
ACC Record/Finish: 7-1/2nd
National Rank: 17th
NCAA Team Appearances: Eight (1994-2001)
Wake Forest's NCAA Championship Lineup
Singles
No. 1 Bea Bielik
No. 2 Janet Bergman
No. 3 Maren Haus
No. 4 Jackie Houston
No. 5 Elizabeth Proctor
No. 6 Aimee Smith
Doubles
No. 1 Bergman/Bielik
No. 2 Haus/Smith
No. 3 Houston/Proctor
Demon Deacons Make Eighth Straight NCAA Appearance...
After winning its first and second-round matches, the 2000-01 Wake Forest women's tennis team has advanced to the NCAA Team Championships in Stone Mountain, Ga. this coming week.
Wake Forest now joins the other 15 regional winners and will face the nation's top-ranked and No. 1 seeded team, Stanford, in the round of 16 on Thursday, May 17.
The Deacons, seeded 17-20 in the 64-team bracket, competed in a regional hosted by Oklahoma State in Edmond, Okla. on May 12-13. WFU shut out its first-round opponent, Illinois State, 4-0, then upset the 16th-seeded host Cowgirls, 4-3, in the second round for the right to advance.
Wake Forest's NCAA Championship berth this year marks the eighth consecutive - and eighth overall - national tournament appearance for the Deacon program. This year's appearance in the round of 16 is just second time that the Deacs have played more than two matches in the tournament. WFU advanced to the quarterfinals last season after winning its own regional.
A Quick Look at the Deacon Lineup...
Wake Forest fields a young team, with two freshmen, a sophomore, two juniors and one senior on its roster. Sophomore Bea Bielik (Valley Stream, N.Y.) tops the lineup at both No. 1 singles and doubles. Ranked fourth nationally, Bielik owns a 30-5 dual record and was ACC flight co-champion at No 1 singles. She teams up with junior Janet Bergman (Pinehurst, N.C.) to form the nation's eighth-ranked doubles tandem, posting a 26-3 record this season. Bergman, ranked 19th nationally and the ACC flight champion at No. 2 singles, has compiled a 32-11 record so far this season.
Bergman and Bielik were both 2001 All-ACC selections and have earned spots in the NCAA singles and doubles championship for the second straight year.
No. 3 singles player Maren Haus (Brielle, N.J.), another All-ACC pick, has posted the team's highest number of victories (35) and is ranked 71st nationally. She teams up with freshman Aimee Smith (Norcross, Ga.) to form Wake's No. 2 doubles team, which has an 18-12 mark.
Lone senior Jackie Houston (Kings Mountain, N.C.) owns a 24-10 singles record, and was the ACC flight champion runner-up at No. 4. Houston and freshman Elizabeth Proctor (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) complete the WFU doubles lineup at No. 3 and have compiled a 4-14 mark since teaming up in January.
Proctor and Smith round out the singles lineup. Having played some at both spots throughout the dual season, Proctor is playing in the fifth spot for the NCAA Championship, and has compiled an 8-15 record this spring. Smith, who is 2-0 in singles play so far in the NCAA Tournament, checks in at No. 6.
Head Coach Brian Fleishman...
Wake Forest head coach Brian Fleishman, in his third year at the helm of the Deacon program, continues to lift the program to new heights. He has compiled a 52-16 record as a head coach, all at WFU. The 2000 ACC Coach of the Year, Fleishman has led the Deacs to three straight NCAA appearances and a school-record 24 wins last season. He has coached seven All-Americas during his tenure at Wake, which included two seasons (1997-98) as an assistant coach.
A 1991 graduate of Christopher Newport University, Fleishman served as an assistant at William and Mary before coming to Winston-Salem.
Regional Recap...
Wake Forest opened NCAA play with a 4-0 shutout over 63rd-ranked Illinois State on May 12 at the Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond, Okla. WFU took the doubles point from the Missouri Valley Conference champion Redbirds, then won at No. 1, 3 and 6 singles to clinch the match. Bea Bielik, Maren Haus and Aimee Smith all posted straight-set singles victories in the win, while Bielik teamed up with Janet Bergman at No. 1 and Haus and Smith combined at No. 2 for doubles wins.
The Deacons then faced host Oklahoma State, seeded 16th in the bracket, for the right to advance. Wake dropped the doubles point, although Bergman and Bielik teamed up for an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles over OSU's 28th-ranked Dolman/Phillips.
WFU rallied from its 1-0 deficit, winning two quick singles matches as Bielik topped No. 45 Maria Phillips, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 and Bergman defeated Dominika Olszewska by an identical score at No. 2. Deacon Jackie Houston won her match at No. 4 by a 6-2, 6-2 score, but the Cowgirls picked up wins at No. 3 and 5 singles to even the match score at 3-3.
The match then came down to No. 6 singles between Wake's Aimee Smith, a freshman, and OSU's Ashleigh Dolman. Smith dropped the first set, then found herself down 4-2 in the second before rallying to the set in a tiebreaker. She then easily took the third set, clinching the match by a 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 score.
Scouting Stanford...
The Stanford Cardinal, with a 26-0 record, is the nation's top-ranked team and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In addition to their top team ranking, Stanford also boasts four singles players ranked among the nation's Top 50, including the No. 1 player, and its top two doubles teams also rank No. 1 and No. 2 nationally.
When Wake Forest meets the Cardinal on Thursday, the match at No. 1 singles will be a battle between the top two sophomores in the country. WFU's Bea Bielik, ranked fourth nationally, will face second-year Cardinal Laura Granville, who has been the nation's top-ranked player since taking over the top spot from Bielik in February. No. 2 singles will also feature a high-caliber matchup between two underclassmen, as Wake junior Janet Bergman, ranked 19th, will play Stanford's ninth-ranked junior, Lauren Kalvaria.
In doubles, Stanford's No. 1 team of Kalvaria and Lauren Barnikow is also the nation's top-ranked tandem and will present a challenge for Wake's eighth-ranked Bergman and Bielik. The Deacon duo, however, already has a No. 1 upset under their belt this season, as they upended Paola Palenica and Ipek Senoglu of Pepperdine to win the ITA National Clay Court doubles championship in the fall. The Pepperdine team was ranked No. 1 at the time, and is currently listed third in the nation.
The Deacons and the Cardinal have faced just three common opponents on this year's schedule - Washington, Illinois State and Southern Cal. Wake is 1-2 against these teams, while Stanford holds a 3-0 mark versus the trio.
The Series with Stanford...
Wake Forest women's tennis team has faced Stanford only twice, with both matches taking place at neutral sites. Stanford leads the series, 2-0. The first meeting occurred at the 1996 National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis., with Stanford winning 5-1. The last meeting was at the 1998 NCAA Championships in Notre Dame, Ind., with the Cardinal pulling off a 5-2 victory in the quarterfinals.
Two current players, one from each team, participated in that 1998 match. Wake senior Jackie Houston and Stanford senior Sarah Pestieau competed against each other at No. 5 singles, with Houston emerging victorious in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Pulling Off the Upset? It's Possible...
A Wake Forest win on Thursday would produce the biggest upset over a No. 1-seeded team in NCAA championship history. Not surprisingly, The No. 1 seed has fared well in the NCAA Tournament, but history has shown that it is not unbeatable. In 18 previous NCAA championships with pre-tournament seedings, the No. 1 seed has captured the national title on seven occasions. The top-seeded team has lost in the finals five times, and has dropped out in the semifinals five times. The biggest upset over a No. 1 seed occurred in 1985, when No. 8 Trinity upset (coincidentally) No. 1 Stanford in the quarterfinals. That match marks the only time a No. 1 seed has not advanced to the tournament's final four.
Double Trouble...
Wake Forest has struggled with its doubles lineup over the course of the season, but when the Deacs win the doubles point, chances are they'll win the overall match as well. Wake has captured the doubles point in less than half (12-of-26) matches this season, but is a perfect 12-0 when winning at least two doubles matches. On the flip side, the Deacs are 6-8 when dropping doubles.
Wake Forest's record in dual doubles is 35-34 (.507) with a 58-40 mark (.592) on the entire season.
Everyone's Gotta Play...
Wake Forest has been among the nation's elite in women's tennis for the last several years. But what makes this year's NCAA tournament run so impressive is that only six players make up Wake Forest's 2000-01 roster. Therefore the Deacs are relying on a true "team effort" this season, as each player needs to compete in every match in order to avoid any forfeits.
The team has been fortunate so far this season, as it has been forced to forfeit an individual match on only four occasions (at Notre Dame and Illinois, and at home versus Florida State and NC State). The Deacs went 2-2 in those matches.
Wake Forest Versus the NCAA Tournament Field...
Wake Forest has faced seven teams who are still alive in the NCAA Tournament bracket, and are a combined 1-7 against those teams in the 2000-01 season. The Deacons have faced some of the best, however, as all seven of those losses have come to the teams seeded No. 3, 4, 5, 10, 12 and 13 in the bracket.
The Deacs defeated Texas, seeded 14th, by a 4-2 score on April 1. Early season losses came against 13th-seed Notre Dame (5-0) on Feb. 10, 10th-seed Southern Cal (5-0) on Feb. 15 and 12th-seed Washington (4-3) on Feb. 16. The USC and Washington matches took place at the National Team Indoor Championships. WFU played fifth-seed Tennessee to a 4-3 loss on March 2 before being shutout by fourth-seed Florida 10 days later. The Deacs also suffered two defeats to third-seeded Duke - a 7-0 loss in the regular season followed by a 4-1 defeat in the finals of the ACC Championship.
What's Next?
A win over Stanford will propel the Deacons into the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight year and third time overall. Wake Forest would then face the winner of No. 8-seed Arizona State versus No. 9 California.
A loss to Stanford would end the Wake Forest's dual season with a 18-9 mark. But Deacons Bea Bielik and Janet Bergman would remain in Stone Mountain to compete in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships. Both earned bids to the singles tournament and will compete together as a team in the doubles bracket. Competition in the 64-member singles bracket begins Monday, May 21, with the 32-team doubles bracket beginning play on Tuesday, May 22. Both finals take place on Saturday, May 26.
NCAA Notables...
Fourteen of the top 16 seeds in the 64-team bracket advanced to Stone Mountain ... Wake Forest provided one of two upsets ... the Deacons, seeded 17-20 upset No. 16 Oklahoma State, while 21-24-seeded UCLA upended 11th-seeded Fresno State ... both upsets were by a 4-3 score ... of the seven teams who have beaten Wake Forest this season, only one, Illinois, did not advance to the round of 16 ... Wake's NCAA travels bring it to the state of Georgia for the second time this season ... the Deacons defeated ACC rival Georgia Tech, 6-1, in Atlanta ... speaking of ACC teams, of the six that made the NCAA field, only two remain - Wake Forest and third-seeded Duke ... Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia also lost first-round matches, while North Carolina advanced to the second round before being eliminated ... Wake Forest owns an all-time record of 8-7 (.533) in NCAA team championship matches.