12th-Ranked Tiger Women’s Tennis To Wrap Up 2009 Regular Season

April 9, 2009

CLEMSON, SC – The 12th-ranked Clemson women’s tennis team will face a tough final weekend as the Tigers will take on fifth-ranked Duke and #19 North Carolina on the road. Clemson, winner of its last eight matches, is in a three-way tie for second place in the ACC standings with Duke and Georgia Tech. All three teams boast an 8-1 conference record, while the Tigers own a 16-5 overall mark. The Tigers and Blue Devils will battle on Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm at the Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, NC while Saturday’s match-up with the Tar Heels is scheduled for a 1:00 pm start from The Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill.

Fans will be able to follow the action on the Internet by accessing livestats at each school’s respective athletic homepage.

Ani Mijacika continues to lead the Clemson squad and the nation with the top singles ranking. She boasts a 28-5 overall record and is one of three Tiger players currently riding an eight-match winning streak. Josipa Bek, ranked 12th in the latest Campbell/ITA Tennis poll, has also won 28 matches this year while Keri Wong has improved to 23-8 following her eight straight wins.

Duke is 18-3 for the year and has three players currently ranked in the ITA Tennis top 40. Rookie Mallory Cecil quickly claimed the number one position after joining the program in January and has rised to the #31 ranking with an 18-3 singles record in the spring season. North Carolina is sitting in fifth-place in the league with a 6-3 conference record and a 16-7 overall ledger. Sanaz Marand owns an 11-6 record and the #61 national ranking playing at the top of the Tar Heel line-up.

Clemson Against Duke, North Carolina The Tigers trail the Blue Devils by a 23-18 margin in the series score, despite a pair of wins over Duke during the 2008 season. Clemson posted a 6-1 victory over the then-ranked #9 Blue Devils in Durham during the regular season and then defeated them in the finals of the ACC Championship. Duke’s last win in the series was during the 2006 season.

The Tigers avenged a regular-season loss to the Tar Heels in 2008 by defeating North Carolina in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Clemson still leads the all-time score by a 35-13 margin in a series that dates back to 1978. The Tar Heels have been the Tigers most frequent opponent over the years with Saturday’s match-up slated to be the 49th in history. Clemson’s 35 wins over North Carolina tie for the second most over any single program. The Tigers have also defeated NC State 35 times while winning 39 of 42 matches against Furman.