Tigers Bow Out of NCAA Singles Championships

May 25, 2011

STANFORD, CA – Clemson’s Josipa Bek and Keri Wong were eliminated from the 2011 NCAA Women’s Singles Tennis Tournament on Wednesday in Stanford, CA. Wong dropped her match in three sets to the 2010 defending National Champion, Chelsey Gullickson, while Bek retired due to a leg injury in the second game of her match with Stacey Tan of Stanford.

The duo will play in the doubles portion on Thursday, as they enter with the No. 6 national ranking and a national 5-8 seed. They will play Kristie Boxx and Katie Guthrie of Mississippi in the first round.

Keri Wong, ranked 48th nationally, had a tough draw in Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson, who despite being ranked 25th this season, was the 2010 NCAA Singles Champion. Gullickson played the top spot for the Bulldogs, who reached the Elite Eight this season.

Wong got off to a good start in the first set. After Gullickson took the first game, Wong rattled off the next four games to take a 4-1 lead. Gullickson won two straight to close to 4-3, but they traded the last three games as Wong took the first set, 6-4.

Gullickson opened the second set by taking the first two games, before Wong broke back and held serve to tie the match at 2-2. Gullickson held, and they got three points into the next game when the rains came. The two got back out after a 20-minute delay to warm back up, but it started raining harder.

In all, they didn’t get back underway until 5:15 eastern time, more than three hours later. Wong got the first two points after the break to tie the set at 3-3, before Gullickson went on a seven-game run, winning the second set 6-3 and taking a 4-0 lead in the deciding third. Neither player could break the other, and Wong couldn’t make up the difference, dropping the set and the match, 6-2.

Wong’s singles campaign ends at 26-14 overall and 9-9 against ranked players. She was named to the All-ACC team for the second straight year.

Wong’s match took nearly five hours to complete with the delay, while Bek’s lasted approximately five minutes.

Bek’s match got underway just after 10:45 pm eastern, pushed back due to the earlier weather delays.

Stanford’s Tan held serve to begin the match, and after the changeover, Bek seemed to come up lame after a point, and chose to retire due to injury. It was the first time in 43 matches that Bek has retired in a match this season due to injury.

Bek fell to 32-11 on the season in singles, and because of her seeding in both singles and doubles, will become the school’s first six-time All-American.