WOLF PACK HEADS TO UTAH TO CONTINUE FACING RANKED TEAMS
Coming off a 1-6 loss to No. 43 Sacramento State on Feb. 14, the Nevada Wolf Pack heads Utah to face two more teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranking. The Wolf Pack will meet two Mountain West Conference teams, beginning with No. 40 Brigham Young Saturday in Provo, Utah. The second match will be on Sunday against No. 43 Utah in Salt Lake City. Both matches will start at 11 a.m. PT.
LAST MATCH
Nevada 4, Pacific 3; March 30, 2008, Lakeridge Tennis Club, Reno, Nev.
After six hours of play, the University of Nevada women’s tennis team pick up its first win of the season, defeating Pacific 4-3 at the Hal Nelson Tennis Courts. The match began at 11 a.m. and it concluded at 5:15 p.m. It concluded with sophomore Aodhnait Lombard defeating Olga Gumenyuk 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 6 spot, a match that took nearly the entire afternoon. Junior Maria Mizyuk made her first singles appearance of the season with a 7-6, 6-2 over Clara Schuhmacher in the No. 5 spot. Sophomore Lais Ogata defeated Kateryna Nezhura 6-3, 7-5 in No. 3 singles and sophomore Florence De Vrye defeated topped Jolanta Twarowska 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 2 spot.
Senior Caroline Bailly was defeated 6-4, 6-4 by Jenifer Widjaja in the No. 1 spot. Sophomore Caroline Stevens was also defeated 6-4, 7-6 by Svenja Arens in the No. 4 spot. In doubles action, De Vrye and Stevens picked up a 8-7 win over Sasha Fisher and Twarowska in the No. 2 spot. Bailly and Ogata were defeated 9-7 Jenifer Widjaja and Olga Gumenyuk in No. 1 doubles and Mizyuk and Lombard were downed by Arens and Nezhura 8-4 in No. 3 doubles.
LAST TIME VS. BYU
BYU 4, Nevada 3; Feb. 29, 2008; Provo, Utah
Taking on then-No. 56 BYU on the Cougars’ home court, Nevada took its opponent to the wire, only to come up on the short end of a 4-3 match. Nevada dropped the doubles point but rallied back with three wins in singles as sophomore Florence De Vrye (No. 3), former players Alice Hall (No. 4) and Laetitia Tan (No. 5) each won. But junior Maria Mizyuk (No. 2) and sophomore Lais Ogata (No. 5) each dropped three-decisions and Nevada couldn’t get the fourth point.
LAST TIME VS. UTAH
#66 Utah 4, Nevada 3; Feb. 16, 2007; Pullman, Wash.
In a neutral site, Nevada was downed by then-ranked No. 66 Utah. Then No. 48 and current junior Maria Mizyuk was defeated by Elizabeth Ferris in No. 1 singles. Senior Caroline Bailly defeated Evgenia Kryuchkova in the No. 2 spot. Sophomore Florence De Vrye downed Emily Kwok in the No. 3 spot while sophomore Lais Ogata topped Leigh Walsh in No. 5 singles.
NEVADA’S UPCOMING OPPONENTS RANKED
Nevada has entered the toughest part of its schedule. Five upcoming opponents are ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. This weekend Nevada will be facing No. 43 Sacramento State and No. 61 Saint Mary’s. On Feb. 28 and March 1, Nevada will face No. 42 BYU and No. 51 Utah, respectively. On March 6-7, Nevada will head to Las Vegas to face No. 50 UNLV and will open Western Athletic Conference play against No. 37 Boise State, respectively.
ABOUT BYU
Coming off a 6-1 loss to No. 5 Notre Dame on Feb. 21, No. 39 BYU was upset 5-2 by fellow Western Athletic Conference member and No. 46 Boise State Wednesday. Kristina Doerr and Elle Carney picked up wins for BYU. Doerr defeated Lauren Megale in the No. 2 spot while Carney defeated Rocio Frej in the No. 6 spot. Boise State’s No. 104 Pichittra Thongdach defeated McCall Jones in the No. 1 spot.
BYU couldn’t pick up the doubles point as Boise State picked up wins in all doubles matches.
ABOUT UTAH
No. 43 Utah was blanked 7-0 by No. 5 Notre Dame last Sunday at the Eccles Tennis Center. In singles play, Lisa Johnson fell to Kristen Rafael at the No. 2 position. Karine Bourdages was then topped at the No. 6 spot by Shannon Matthews, 6-0, 6-2.
In doubles play, Anastasia Putilina and Lexi Provancha were defeated by Cosmina Ciobanu and Kristy Frilling, 8-2, in the No. 2 spot. At the No. 3 spot, Leigh Walsh and Johnson fell to Matthews and Colleen Rielley, 8-4. Erin Monson and Andrea Maughan were defeated by No. 2 Kali Krisik and Kelcy Tefft, 8-2, in the No. 1 spot.
THE WOLF PACK AND GAELS IN TOURNAMENTS
Nevada has also faced Saint Mary’s and Sacramento State in tournament play, including the Saint Mary’s Tournament from Oct. 10-12. The two teams first met at the Cal NIKE Invitational on Sept. 26-28, the ITA Regional Championships on Oct. 17-20, and at the Cal Winter Invitational on Jan. 16-18.
MIZYUK MAKES STRONG RETURN IN SINGLES
Although she opened her 2008-09 season at the Cal Winter Invitational on Jan. 16, junior Maria Mizyuk opened her singles season on Jan. 31 at Pacific. Mizyuk, who opened her season at the Cal Winter Invitational in doubles play, defeated Pacific’s Clara Schuhmacher 7-6, 6-2 in the No. 5 spot. It was Mizyuk’s first singles appearance since the WAC Championships last season.
CASSIDY AND LOMBARD WIN SAINT MARY’S TOURNAMENT ITA BLUE DOUBLES
In their second tournament appearance with Nevada, freshman Shannon Cassidy and sophomore Aodhnait Lombard picked up their first tournament win at the Saint Mary’s Tournament in Moraga, Calif., on Oct. 11, 2008. Cassidy and Aodhnait defeated Santa Clara’s Carmen Pham and Kimi Cox 8-4 to give the Wolf Pack its first tournament of the season.
HUBA A FINALIST AT SAINT MARY’S TOURNAMENT
In less than a month into the 2008-09 season, freshman Katarina Huba was a finalist in the Blue ITA Singles at the Saint Mary’s Tournament on Oct. 12, 2008. The tournament was Huba’s second appearance with the Wolf Pack.
BAILLY CONTINUES CLIMBING TO THE TOP
At the end of the 2007-08 season, senior Caroline Bailly made a huge jump in the program’s career-singles all-time wins list from seventh to second. Bailly began the season with a career record of 41 and finished the season with 56, passing Leanne Maitland (1995-98) and Biljana Trpeska (1999-2003), which had 51 career wins each. Next on Bailly’s list is Tracy King (1988-92), who holds the number one spot with 83 wins. Bailly currently has 60 career-singles win after competing at the Cal Winter Invitational.
MIZYUK IN THE TOP 10 ALL-TIME CAREER-SINGLES WINS LIST
After defeating Pacific’s Clara Schumacher in the No. 5 singles spot on Jan. 31, junior Maria Mizyuk picked up her 45th career win in singles competition. Mizyuk is sitting eighth in the all-time career wins list in program history. Next on the list is Carol Evans (1996-99), who finished her collegiate career with 44 wins.
NEVADA’S TOP 10 CAREER-SINGLES WIN ALL-TIME
PLAYER (YEARS PLAYED), WINS
1. Tracy King (1988-92), 83
2. Caroline Bailly (2005-Present), 60
3. Leanne Maitland (1995-98), 51
4. Biljana Trpeska (1999-2003), 51
5. Ines Zouabi (1998-2003), 48
6. Vania Apodaca (2000-03), 46
7. Carol Evans (1996-99), 44
8. Maria Mizyuk (2006-Present), 42
9. Tjasa Jezernik (1999-2002), 38
10. Issem Essais (1994-97), 32
SUCCESS CONTINUES FOR THE WOLF PACK
When he was named head coach of the Wolf Pack in 2005, Sylvain Malroux wasted no time getting his team into the winning tradition again. From 2001-05, the Wolf Pack was 20-49. Since the 2005-06 season, the Wolf Pack is now 38-21, one of the biggest turnarounds in program history. This season, Malroux has four players returning and added four more to his roster.
BAILLY AND MIZYUK MADE PRESEASON RANKINGS
Senior Caroline Bailly and junior Maria Mizyuk made the preseason rankings. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranked Mizyuk and Bailly No. 26 in doubles before the team entered tournament play. In singles, Mizyuk was ranked No. 58 while Bailly was ranked No. 91. The ITA selected the top 125 players in singles and the top 50 doubles team. Mizyuk and Bailly’s ranking in both singles and doubles is the highest in fourth-year head coach Sylvain Malroux’s tenure.
TONELLI NAMED ASSISTANT COACH
Former Nevada men’s tennis standout Guillaume Tonelli was named assistant coach to the women’s tennis program during the offseason. Tonelli, who graduated from Nevada last year, served as student assistant coach for the women’s tennis program last season. During his playing career with the Wolf Pack, Tonelli won 30 singles matches and 15 doubles matches. He went 15-10 in singles play as a junior in 2005-06 and then recorded a 15-14 record as a senior in 2006-07. Despite playing in the program for only two years, Tonelli ranks 10th all-time in Nevada in career singles victories, a spot he shares with current men’s coach Chad Stoloff.
ABOUT THE WAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s tennis championships will be held April 23-26 at the University of Hawai`i’s Tennis Complex at Honolulu, Hawai`i. This will be the second time in four years the UH Tennis Complex has hosted the WAC Championships. For more information, visit www.wacsports.com.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA
The University of Nevada, Reno was founded in 1874 as the state’s land-grant and first institution of higher education. Although founded in Elko, the University relocated to Reno in 1887. The main campus in Reno is located just north of downtown. The University’s first building, Morrill Hall, still stands and is in use today. Both Morrill Hall and the historic’ Quad are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The University includes nine degree-granting colleges and schools: agriculture, biotechnology and natural sciences, education, engineering, health and human sciences, journalism, liberal arts, school of medicine and science.
UP NEXT FOR THE PACK
Following the match against Utah, Nevada will head to Las Vegas to face No. 49 UNLV on Saturday, March 6th. On the next day, the Wolf Pack will open Western Athletic Conference play against No. 46 Boise State in Las Vegas.
