Clemson Women’s Tennis Earns No. 14 Final Ranking

May 31, 2011

The Clemson women’s tennis team, who closed the season at 21-11 and advanced to a fifth straight NCAA Sweet 16, ended the season ranked 14th in the Final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women’s National Team Rankings as announced on Tuesday.

This marks the ninth straight season the Tigers have finished the season in the top 20, with seven of those finishes inside the top 15. Overall, it’s the 20th time in program history that the team has finish inside the top 20.

Clemson played one of the toughest schedules in the country, as they played ten matches against teams who finished in the top ten, including two against National Champion Florida. Seven ACC schools finished in the top 15 nationally as well, easily outnumbering the next closest conference (Pac-10 had three).

Head Coach Nancy Harris finished her 14th season, and she has now led the team to a 238-129 record, two ACC Tournament Championships, and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including berths in the Final Four in 2004 and 2005. Harris won the 85th ACC match of her career this season, surpassing the old school mark, and finished the year with 90 career wins inside the ACC. She also has a 21-12 mark in NCAA play.

Keri Wong and Josipa Bek just capped off a remarkable season on May 30, culminating with a runner-up finish in the 2011 NCAA Doubles Championship. Bek and Wong reach the finals of all three “Grand Slam” collegiate tennis tournaments, won the Carolina Regional title, and closed the year with a 34-11 mark.

Each was named to the All-ACC team. For Bek, it was her third career honor, and the second for Wong. They were also both named doubles All-Americans, the third such honor for Bek and the second for Wong.

Bek was also an All-American in singles for the third time, giving her six total All-America honors, a school record. Bek has the opportunity to break both the singles and doubles career wins marks. After winning 40 doubles matches this season, she has 95 in her career, just ten shy of Ina Hadziselimovic’s record of 105. The record for singles wins is 137 by Jane Forman, and Bek closed the season with 94.

She will also be able to go after the total wins mark of 223, held by Jody Trucks (1980-84) and Melissa Seigler (1982-85). Bek has 189 going into her senior season. She will also likely become only the second 100-100 player in school history.

The Tigers lose just one player to graduation in Laurianne Henry, who had a 6-11 record this season, but, over the course of her career won some huge matches. In 2008, she won all over her singles matches in helping to lead Clemson to the ACC Tournament Championship. She also won the clinching singles match to send the Tigers to the Sweet 16 in three consecutive seasons from 2008-10.

Several young players also had strong years for the Tigers. Freshmen Masha Belaya and Klara Vyskocilova showed great signs of the future, as Belaya closed the year with a 24-13 singles mark,, and Vyskocilova a 21-12 record. She spent much of the season in the national rankings and played 17 matches at the No. 3 position.

Sophomores Caroline Magnusson and Nelly Ciolkowski provided stability in the middle of the lineup. Ciolkowski finished the year with a 24-15 mark, giving her 53 wins in her first two seasons. Magnusson was 18-10 this season, primarily at the No. 5 spot, and had a 15-7 mark in dual matches.