No. 24 Clemson set for No. 34 Arizona State in NCAA Tournament Friday

May 9, 2012

Live Blog (During Matches Only)

The Clemson women’s tennis team will open play in the 2012 NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 11 at 10:00 am against Arizona State (11-9) at the Dan Magill Tennis Center in Athens, GA. The Tigers (15-9) are making an 11th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, while the Sun Devils are making a 25th consecutive trip. Clemson is ranked 24th nationally and is the two-seed in the regional, while Arizona State is 34th nationally and the No. 3 in the regional.

The Tigers will play on the Stadium courts at the University of Georgia, also the site of this year’s final three rounds and Singles and Doubles Championships, as well as a regional. The winner will take on the winner between No. 6 Georgia and College of Charleston at 3:00 pm on Saturday.

Fans can enjoy extensive coverage of the event, including live video, live scoring, a live blog, as well as the NCAA’s twitter feed, @NCAATennis2012. For fans who wish to attend the event, tickets are available at Georgiadogs.com at a cost of $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for youth, seniors, and students.

Following the match, the three Tiger seniors will make the trip back to Clemson in order to walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Josipa Bek, Keri Wong, and Nelly Ciolkowski are all scheduled to participate in the 6:00 pm ceremony in Littlejohn Coliseum, as they are each members of the business school.

Clemson and Arizona State have met three times in history, but not since 2004. They feature one of the top players in the nation in Jacqueline Cako, who is ranked 15th in singles in the nation. Michelle Brycki is the only other Sun Devil in the singles rankings, coming in at No. 92.

Wong and sophomore Klara Vyskocilova are ranked 46th and 77th in ACC play, respectively, and each was named to the All-ACC team this season. Wong and Bek are ranked 12th in the nation in doubles, and have earned a bid to the Doubles Championships next week as well, a tournament in which they advanced to the finals last season.

Both Bek and Wong have a chance of becoming the school’s all-time wins leaders. Bek’s 222 total wins is second all time to Jody Trucks, who had 223 combined singles and doubles wins. Wong is not far behind, with 219 career victories. Bek and Wong rank first and second all time in career doubles wins, with 119 and 118, respectively.