No. 8 Clemson to Open ACC Tournament Play Friday Against Virginia

April 22, 2010

CARY, NC – The Clemson women’s tennis team, ranked 8th nationally, will open play in the ACC Tournament with a 3:00 pm match Friday at the Cary Tennis Complex in Cary, NC. The third-seeded Tigers (21-4, 9-2 ACC) will play 6-seed and 26th-ranked Virginia who beat 11-seed Boston College, 4-0 on Thursday.

Clemson will close the regular season and open tournament play with the same opponent for the second consecutive season. Clemson won a 4-3 decision in Charlottesville on April 17 to move to 32-4 all-time against the Cavaliers.

Last season, Clemson closed its regular season with a win against North Carolina, but fell in the ACC quarterfinals to the Heels.

Clemson is 29-21 all-time in ACC Tournament play. The Tigers most recently won the tournament in 2008, as they knocked off the two top seeds to take the ACC crown. Clemson has won eight ACC Championships in its history, second-0mmost of any league school.

The Tigers have been a three seed in the tournament on four previous occasions. They won the championship in 1987, and advanced to the semifinals in 2000 and 2005, and lsot in the quarterfinals last season.

The Tigers feature three All-ACC players in Ina Hadziselimovic.

Bek, a sophomore from Osijek, Croatia, is 26-12 this season and is ranked #19 nationally in singles. Bek enters playing some of her best tennis, having won eight straight singles matches and nine consecutive doubles matches.

Wong is ranked 74th nationally, having primarily played at the #2 slot this season. Hadziselimovic is ranked 121st in the nation, and has a 19-6 record in the dual match season.

Clemson’s fourth ranked player is freshman Nelly Ciolkowski, who has a 27-6 record overall. She is 18-5 in the dual match season, and 8-3 in the ACC, and is currently ranked 94th.

Bek and Hadziselimovic form the ninth-ranked doubles tandem nationally, while Hadziselimovic and Wong are ranked 30th.