Tennis Team Earns First-Ever National Ranking
4/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 21, 2009
Complete ITA Rankings (April 21, 2009)
OXFORD, Ohio -- On the heels of its first Mid-American Conference regular season title since 1999, the Miami women's tennis team has earned its first-ever national ranking, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The RedHawks occupy the 75th, and final spot, among the computerized ranking system with 5.99 points.
The current system went into place in during the 1990s, replacing previous polls of the Top 25 and Top 50 teams.
Miami (13-6, 8-0) clinched its 16th MAC Championship on Friday with a 4-3 victory over four-time defending league champion Western Michigan. The following day, the Redhawks capped a perfect regular season with a 4-3 win at Bowling Green. They will be the top seed for the league tournament, which runs Thursday to Sunday, also at Bowling Green. Miami faces the winner of the 8-9 matchup between Northern Illinois and Ball State Friday morning at 10 a.m.
"The fact is the No. 75 ranking doesn't mean much in itself," Head Coach Howard Joffe. "But it stands as an emblem of where this program has come over the last two years. Our goal is to be much better than this, but this is a sign of the hard work that our players have put in this season."
In other news Tuesday, the Mid-American Conference named sophomore Anastasia Dracheva as its Player of the Week. The native of Moscow, Russia, won all four of her matches last week -- two at No. 2 singles and two with Monica Gorny at No. 2 doubles.
On Friday, she eased past Emily Dudzik of Western Michigan 6-0, 6-2, while earning a 9-7 win in doubles. At BG, she defeated Christine Chiricosta (BG) 6-4, 6-1 and earned an 8-0 win in doubles.
Dracheva is 19-9 this year overall, including 15-4 in dual matches this spring and 8-0 in league play. She has won 11 straight singles matches, dropping just 33 games during the run. In doubles, she is 16-4 overall, including 14-2 with current partner Monica Gorny. That duo has won 12 straight matches, including all seven conducted during league play.
As a team, Miami has won nine straight matches, the longest success run since 10 straight victories to end the 1992 season.
