Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Tennis Begins Spring Play at UVA Invitational
1/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 16, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 21 Wake Forest women's tennis team will open 2008 with the UVA Invitational, a pre-season dual match style tournament, on Friday in Charlottesville, Va.
The Demon Deacons will kick off the invitational with No. 49 Purdue, and follow up with No. 33 LSU on Saturday. On Sunday Wake Forest will face No. 39 Virginia in a pre-season ACC match up.
In the most recent ITA Rankings, released January 8, WFU senior Alex Hirsch placed 75th in the singles portion and is one of just two ranked singles competitors at the invite.
The Deacons will officially start spring dual match play on January 26 at No. 15 William and Mary. In 2007, the Tribe ousted Wake Forest from the NCAA Tournament in the second round in Williamsburg.
Following the opening road match, the Demon Deacons will host four consecutive matches in Winston-Salem, beginning with Penn State on February 2. The Deacs will follow up with No. 22 Tennessee on February 3, No. 9 Notre Dame on February 22 and No. 25 Indiana on February 23.
The Deacons will continue with three more ranked non-conference opponents, including No. 26 Texas A&M, No. 13 Baylor and No. 36 TCU before beginning action in the ACC on March 8 with Virginia in Winston-Salem.
In conference play, 2007 NCAA Champion Georgia Tech leads the national rankings, followed in the ACC by Clemson who sits at No. 10. Also in the Top 25 is Duke (17th) and Florida State, who stands just above Wake Forest at No. 20.
"This team has a lot of depth and the challenge for this team is for the players to step up and compete," Head Coach Skorupka said. "We have a great challenging schedule that will give us many opportunities to help us move up in the rankings. We want to take each match one at a time and improve with each match."
Field Hockey Standout Joins Tennis for 2008 Season
Over the break, Wake Forest added Field Hockey All-American Aileen Davis to its line up. In the Wake Forest field hockey team's road to the 2007 Final Four, Davis (Edinburgh, Scotland) had three goals and four assists to total 10 points for the season. She also scored the game-winning goal in the national quarterfinals that pushed the Deacons past Michigan and into the Final Four.
Before enrolling at Wake Forest, Davis was a talented junior tennis player in Scotland, where she played in numerous tournaments.
"Aileen is a great pure athlete and when you can add a player of her caliber to your team it will only make up stronger in the long run," Skorupka said.
Players Mentioned
