March 18, 2008
WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's tennis team moved up two spots to No. 3 in the latest rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Tuesday. The Lady Bears, whose previous top ranking came three weeks ago when Baylor moved up to No. 4 in the ITA rankings, achieve their highest ranking in program history.
Northwestern and Georgia Tech hold the Nos. 1 and 2 spots for the fourth-straight week, while Florida and Stanford round out the top five. Baylor will play host to No. 1 Northwestern next Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. at Baylor Tennis Center.
Wednesday night's match with top-ranked Northwestern will mark the first time that Baylor has played host to a No. 1-ranked team. It also marks the first time that Baylor has faced a No. 1 team in a non-championship dual match. Baylor has squared off against a top-ranked team on two other occasions, both against Stanford. The Lady Bears fell to the Cardinal 4-2 earlier this season, and lost a 7-0 decision to Stanford at the National Indoor Championships in 2001.
Baylor is currently 16-1 on the season, with its only loss to then-top-ranked Stanford at the 2008 ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Madison, Wisc. The Lady Bears are riding a 14-match winning streak, including wins over 12 teams ranked in the top 75, and eight teams ranked 19th or better.
The Lady Bears are now 13-1 on the season against nationally ranked opponents.
In addition, Baylor has four singles players and two doubles teams ranked this week. Lenka Broosova holds the No. 11 national ranking in singles, while Zuzana Zemenova jumped two spots to 23rd in the nation this week. Taylor Ormond is ranked 26th overall, while Jana Bielikova made the largest move in the rankings, jumping 17 spots to No. 62 in the nation.
Zemenova and Broosova combine for a No. 4 national doubles ranking, while Ormond teams with Jelena Stanivuk as the 54th-ranked tandem in the nation.
Baylor opened the spring season at No. 13 in the ITA rankings before climbing to No. 11 (Feb. 5), No. 10 (Feb. 12) and No. 8 (Feb. 20). On Feb. 26, the Lady Bears attained its highest ranking ever, moving to No. 4 in the nation. Baylor held that ranking for two weeks before dropping to fifth on March 11.
Prior to the 2008 season, Baylor's highest billing came during the 2006 season when the Lady Bears were ranked No. 5 nationally for four consecutive weeks.
Baylor returns to action on Saturday as the Lady Bears return to Big 12 Conference play with a match at Texas Tech on Saturday at 12 noon in Lubbock, Texas. The Lady Bears return home on Wednesday for a showdown with top-ranked Northwestern at 5:30 p.m. at the Baylor Tennis Center.
Note: All previous opponent rankings based on rankings at the time they played Baylor.
ITA National Rankings (03/18/08)
1. Northwestern
2. Georgia Tech
3. BAYLOR
4. Florida
5. Stanford
6. Georgia
7. California
8. UCLA
9. Duke
10. Southern California
