A True Champion
6/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
June 25, 2002
By Jay Reddick
The word "champion" has lost some of its lustre in today's sports world. In a sport like tennis, in any year, there are tournament champions, flight champions, conference champions...
But when you take the meaning of the word to its highest level, only one athlete each year has the right to be called a national champion.
That athlete, for women's tennis in 2002, is Bea Bielik.
Bielik's dominance has been obvious all season long. She never fell out of the top three in the national collegiate singles rankings. Her only two losses came about as the result of illness or injury. But what she showed from May 20-25 in Palo Alto, Calif., went beyond all she had done before.
The junior from Valley Stream, N.Y., won six consecutive matches, losing an NCAA-record low 21 games in the process. She closed with a flourish, trouncing third seed Jessica Lehnhoff of Florida 6-2, 6-0 in the final, avenging one of her early-season losses in the process.
"She made a comment on the morning of the final that it felt like she was just starting the tournament," Wake Forest coach Brian Fleishman said. "That was when I knew she was going to win."
The NCAA tournament is a grueling test, especially for those like Bielik who competed in the doubles draw simultaneously and had just finished a long run through the team competition. The constant exertion got to Bielik last year, when she reached the singles semifinals before losing. This time, she wouldn't let that happen.
"That was the ultimate motivation," Bielik said. "Last year, I ran out of gas, so I worked on fitness."
Bielik joins an incredibly select group of national champions at Wake Forest. Only five individuals (golfers Gary Hallberg, Jay Haas, Arnold Palmer and Curtis Strange, and shot put/discus champion Andy Bloom) and four teams (three men's golf squads and the 1955 baseball team) had earned titles before Bielik.
"It really hasn't hit me yet, but I am sure it will when I get home," Bielik said. "When I finished match point in California, it was really, really satisfying. It is a good thing to put Wake Forest on the map."
Fleishman, the national Coach of the Year, can also appreciate all that Bielik, the national Player of the Year, has done.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell how much a player has progressed when you see them every day," Fleishman said. "I thought Bea would have her toughest test of the tournament against Megan Bradley of UCLA (in the round of 16). They had played earlier this year, and Bea had won in three sets, in three tiebreakers. And she won 6-1, 6-0. I knew after that that Bea had gotten so much better during the course of the year.
"This school has always had a solid program in women's tennis," Fleishman said, "but I believe since Bea came here, it's really increased our profile and raised the bar on what we can do. She has won three college Grand Slam events, and now this - it's an unbelievable accomplishment."
The victory changes Bielik's summer plans a bit. For one thing, the WTA Tour beckons. Whether to leave a year early has been a question that has followed Bielik all season long, but now, the decision is that much harder.
"She's said the same thing all year -- she loves college, she loves Wake Forest, and she loves her teammates," Fleishman said. "I haven't put any extra pressure on her. It's a tough decision, and I don't know what I would do in her shoes, but I know she wants to graduate. Whatever she decides, she's given Wake Forest three great years, and I'll support her decision."
Bielik herself said that her mind is not made up.
"Going on the pro tour is a full-time commitment," she said a day after her title win. "If I think mentally I am ready to do that and emotionally I am ready to do that, then I will go."
Her pro debut could come at the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 26 in Flushing Meadow, N.Y. The NCAA title gives her an automatic entry into that event, which is played near her home. "I think it is going to be really, really exciting," Bielik said. "New Yorkers are one of the best crowds in the world. I am sure I will be nervous when the day comes, but right now I am looking forward to it."
RECORD ROMP
Bea Bielik's Road to the NCAA Singles Championship
First Round: (1) Bea Bielik def. Susanna Lingman (Harvard), 6-4, 6-2
Second Round: (1) Bea Bielik def. Kim Niggemeyer (Fresno State), 6-3, 6-2
Third Round: (1) Bea Bielik def. (9-16) Megan Bradley (UCLA), 6-1, 6-0
Quarterfinals: (1) Bea Bielik def. Kate Pinchbeck (UNC), 6-2, 6-4
Semifinals: (1) Bea Bielik def. (9-16) Erin Burdette (Stanford), 6-1, 6-0
Finals: (1) Bea Bielik def. (3) Jessica Lehnhoff (Florida), 6-2, 6-0
SEPARATE BOX? In ROUNDUP?
Bielik and Janet Bergman ended their successful doubles tandem with a trip to the NCAA championships. The second-seeded duo defeated Notre Dame's Katie Cunha and Lindsey Green in straight sets in the opening round before losing in the round of 16 to Kelly McCain and Hillary Adams of Duke.
In singles, Bergman lost in the second round to Southern Cal's Jewel Peterson, the seventh seed in the tournament.