Women’s Tennis Player Mijacika Atop Singles Rankings

April 15, 2008

CLEMSON, SC – Ani Mijacika, a sophomore on the Clemson women’s tennis team, has moved up to the #1 singles ranking, as of Tuesday’s Fila/ITA Tennis poll. She boasts a 25-5 record for the year with 14 wins over ranked opponents and has been ranked in the top five nationally in all six individual polls this spring season.

Mijacika had earned the top spot on Feb. 20 to become the first Tiger tennis player, man or woman, to be ranked as the best in the nation. She is just the second Clemson student-athlete to earn a #1 individual ranking. D.J. Trahan was the top ranked collegiate golfer during his junior and senior seasons.

Notable wins for the native of Makarska, Croatia during the dual-match season include a come-from-behind victory over the #9-ranked player from North Carolina and a straight set defeat of #10 Susie Babos of California. Mijacika trailed, 5-0, in the third set against the Tar Heel player before winning the next five games and then forcing a tiebreak.

Mijacika is one of three Tiger players listed in the singles poll, as Carol Salge is ranked 81st and Estefania Balda moved up one position to #108. Salge is riding a 10-match singles winning streak, while Balda owns a 16-14 overall record playing primarily at the no. 2 position.

Mijacika and Salge are also ranked at #10 in doubles with an 11-2 record in dual matches and wins over five team teams ranked in the top 20.

The Tigers dropped four spots to #25 in the team poll. They have won their last seven matches to improve to 12-9 on the year. Clemson finished fourth in the ACC regular season standings with an 8-3 conference record and will begin play in the ACC Championships on Friday morning. The Tigers will face the winner of #5-seed North Carolina and #12-seed Maryland at 9:00 am in Altamonte Springs, FL.