Tiger Doubles Team Advances, Mijacka Falls In NCAA Play On Friday

May 23, 2008

TULSA, OK – For the second straight year, Clemson’s Ani Mijacika advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship. The Tiger sophomore fell in singles action at the Michael T. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, OK on Friday, but paired with senior Carol Salge to reach the final eight in doubles.

Mijacika advanced to the semifinals in 2007 with Federica van Adrichem, setting the precedent for a Tiger doubles team.

She and Salge won in straight sets over Texas’ team of Vanja Corovic and Mariya Milic on Friday evening. They posted a 6-2 win in the first set and withstood a rally by the Longhorn tandem in the second to improve to 17-2 on the year.

The Clemson duo held a 5-2 lead in the second set before dropping the next three games. Mijacika and Salge went ahead, 6-5, but the Texas team forced the tiebreak. The Tigers prevailed, 7-5, to advance. They will face the winner of the match between Fresno State’s Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova and Alex Haney and Melissa Koning of Auburn on Saturday.

In singles competition, Mijacika, the #2 seed, fell to 9-16 seed Fani Chifchieva of Auburn in the round of 16 (6-2, 6-4). She finished the year with a 30-8 singles record and collected All-America honors in singles by earning a national seed in the tournament.

Mijacika and Salge were also named All-Americans in doubles for selected as a top-eight seed in the doubles championships, as well as for reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament. The award is the first for the senior Salge, while Mijacika earned All-America accolades in doubles last season.