The Fairfield women’s tennis team heads to Los Angeles, Calif. tomorrow morning for the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tennis Championships at host school, USC. The Stags (14-6) will face the five-seed Southern California (20-3) on Friday, May 11 at 2pm PST at the Marks Tennis Center. The other two teams hosted by USC are San Diego (13-9) and Vanderbilt (16-7), who will face one another at 11am PST at the Marks Tennis Center on May 11.
Fairfield earned their third NCAA berth in four years under head coach Ed Paige, after making an impressive run through the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships. The top-seeded Stags knocked off St. Peter’s, 7-0, in the semifinals before downing second-seeded Marist, 4-1, in the finals. Sophomore Sharissa Ryan was named the 2012 MAAC Women’s Tennis Championship Most Outstanding Performer.
Junior Nikki Jackson is the only Stag besides Paige to have been to the NCAA Tournament. In her rookie season, Jackson helped garner a MAAC Championship and the program’s third ever NCAA appearance. The Stags flew to California that season, where they took on host school Stanford in the first round and dropped 4-0.
Although Jackson has been there before, she says “this most definitely feels different than my freshman year. I was injured during the time of MAACs that season, so I didn’t really feel as big a part of the win as I do this year.”
Sophomore co-captain and MAAC Player of the Year, Monica Yajima, currently leads the team with a seven-match win streak heading into the NCAA Tournament, going 8-2 in her last ten. Other streaks on the team come in the form of doubles, which Fairfield has dominated in conference play all season. Jackson, Victoria Pirrello, and Ryan, all finished the MAAC season having gone undefeated in doubles action. The duo of Allison Radde and Ryan are the only undefeated pairing on the season, posting seven straight victories and clinching a spot on the Doubles All-MAAC First Team.
On the Stags facing #5 USC in the first round, Yajima states “As a team, it will be tough to overcome USC’s depth and talent, but we have great heart and fight. We have a ‘nothing to lose’ mindset going into this week.” She continues, “Personally, this NCAA tournament is every reason I play college tennis. After not making it last year, I am looking for redemption and making a mark on the NCAA circuit. Although it will be a tough match, without any doubt, I am looking forward to playing the Trojan’s #1 player. My main goal is to do everything I can to put Fairfield Tennis on the map and leave everything I have on the courts in Los Angeles.”
Freshman Allison Radde is the only player on Fairfield’s roster from the west coast, Fullerton, Calif. The Stag is excited to play once more this season close to home as she states “Even though we’ll only be there for a short time, it’ll be great to play in a place with which I am familiar and have my family and friends there to support me.”
The Women of Troy enter the NCAA Tournament with a 20-3 record. This is the 21st consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament for USC, and 30th overall. The Women of Troy have a 59-28 record in NCAA Tournament play and have captured seven national championships in all, including NCAA champion titles in 1983 and 1985. Four student-athletes on USC’s roster are in the Campbell/ITA National rankings including: freshman Zoe Scandalis(13), junior Danielle Lao (17), freshman Sabrina Santamaria (28), and sophomore Kaitlyn Christian (72). In addition to Christian and Santamaria’s doubles ranking, junior Valeria Pulido and Scandalis are ranked 54th.
The Toreros enter the NCAA Tournament with a 13-9 record and their first-ever West Coast Conference Championship after upsetting their conference’s No. 1 seed Pepperdine. San Diego is making its 11th trip to the NCAAs and its first back-to-back trip since the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Last season, the Toreros fell in the second round to UCLA after defeating UNLV in the first round, 4-2. San Diego currently has one player ranked in the Campbell’s/ITA singles rankings in sophomore Anna Dependau, who is No. 112 and boasts a record of 21-10 on the year playing primarily at No. 4.
The Commodores enter the NCAA Tournament for their 18th consecutive appearance with a 16-9 record and as an at-large bid after falling to Ole Miss in the Southeast Conference Tournament and finishing fifth. Vanderbilt enters the tournament ranked 26th in the most recent ITA rankings. Two Commodores are in the top-100, senior Jackie Wu (37) and sophomore Lauren Mira (89). In addition, the two pair together to form the 26th-ranked doubles team in the nation.
To view the women’s program link, please
click here. For the full bracket of the 2012 Women’s NCAA Tennis Championships,
click here. And for the full notes on Fairfield Women’s Tennis,
click here.
