#14 Women’s Tennis Travels to Furman Thursday

Feb. 3, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – The 14th-ranked Clemson women’s tennis team will travel to Greenville, SC to the Mickel Tennis Center to take on the Furman Paladins (0-2) on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. The Tigers are off to a 5-0 start on the season, with four wins against ranked opponents.

Clemson advanced to the Final 16 of the ITA National Team Indoors on Sunday with a 4-3 win over #20 Ole Miss, and will travel to Madison, WI on Feb. 12-15 to take on the nation’s elite in an early-season showdown.

Clemson got clutch efforts from Laurianne Henry and Estefania Balda over the weekend, needing the clinching point in the last standing singles match each days. Additionally, Keri Wong mounted a big comeback on Saturday, which helped change the momentum of the match, fueling a 4-3 Tiger victory.

The Tigers are ranked 14th in the most recent Campbell ITA singles poll, and three Tigers are currently ranked in #9 Ina Hadziselimovic. Keri Wong is 5-0 at the #2 singles spot, while Ciolkowski has been great at #4, posting a 5-0 mark.

Additionally, the tandem of Wong and Hadziselimovic is 5-0 on the season, with wins against the 44th-ranked team and the 7th-best team nationally under their belts.

The Paladins fell to South Carolina on Jan. 26, and are led in the rankings by #84 Monica Arguello.

This will be the 43rd matchup between the teams, with Clemson holding a 39-3 ledger in the series, which dates to 1976. The Paladins actually won both matches that season, before Clemson went on a 31-match series winning streak, broken in 2002.

After the match with the Paladins, Clemson will travel to #4 Georgia for a showdown with the Bulldogs, who will also be at the ITA Indoor National Championships. That match is slated to start at noon on Feb. 6 in Athens, GA, site of the 2010 NCAA Championships.