May 19, 2010

Championships Notes | Championship Central

ATHENS, Ga. - After winning their first two matches of the NCAA Team Championship, the top-seeded Lady Bears will be making their sixth consecutive appearance in the Round of 16 under eighth-year head coach Joey Scrivano when they travel to Athens, Ga., for the NCAA Team Championships from May 20-25.

Baylor enters their third bout of the season against Texas in the Round of 16 on a 23-match win streak, along with a 55-match win streak over Big 12 opponents. The Lady Bears defeated 16th-ranked Texas on their home court in both of their previous matches, 5-2 in the regular season, then 4-0 in the Big 12 Championship final.

"It is nice to play them at a neutral site," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "We played them twice in Austin and both times were great matches. It is good to play an opponent that you know so well. That relieves some of the stress or anxiety of not knowing an opponent and we know Texas better than anybody."

The Baylor program has had success under Scrivano in the Round of 16 and further, compiling a 4-5 record in matches after the second round, including three wins in the Round of 16 and one win in the Elite Eight. Baylor enters with one Final Four to their credit, which came during their school-record breaking run in 2008 where the team compiled a program-best 32 wins.

"[Experience] helps a lot if we use it the right way," Scrivano said. "If our players lean on that experience and trust their game and don't try to overplay then that is going to be a huge edge for us. They have been in a lot of tough matches and they have come through so many times that that is going to really give us some confidence in this tournament. "

With their current 23-match win streak, Baylor, top-to-bottom, may be the hottest team in the country, shooting from a No. 9 ranking in mid-March to the top overall spot by mid-April. In singles, nobody has been hotter than Baylor's No. 4 singles player Csilla Borsanyi. After going through an early-season stretch where she lost five in a row and eight of 13, Borsanyi has fully turned the corner, ripping off her last 14 in a row to hold her top 100 ranking at No. 97.

Along with Borsanyi, four more of Baylor's top six have winning streaks of at least seven matches, including a streak of 10-straight by 20th-ranked Nina Secerbegovic, and streaks of nine consecutive matches by both No. 5 Lenka Broosova and Karolina Filipiak. Also rounding into form after missing much of the season with injury, All-American Jelena Stanivuk has won her last seven matches.

As impressive as Baylor has been in singles during the win streak, the doubles pairs have been equally as great, riding current win streaks of at least seven matches at all three positions. At No. 2 doubles, the midseason switch to a combination of Secerbegovic and Stanivuk has been unbeatable as the duo is 16-0 together. At No. 1 doubles, the senior pair of Broosova and Borsanyi is on an 11-match win streak and has put together a 25-4 season at the top spot. At No. 3 doubles, junior Taylor Ormond and freshman Carla Lindlar have steadily improved and are on a seven-match win streak.

"I think most importantly right now we have a lot of confidence," Scrivano said. "I think that is what you want to have going into the tournament is confidence and momentum. We have a heck of a win streak going right now. I think our team feels like if we do the right things than we are pretty tough to beat and that is really what is important for us right now."

The Lady Bears will take on Texas in the Round of 16 at 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 20. The winner of the Baylor/Texas matchup will face the winner of the Stanford/Clemson matchup on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET.

SCRIVANO €ˆIN THE BIG DANCE
Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano's tenure at Baylor has been a steady climb in building one of the elite programs in collegiate tennis. During his time, Scrivano has lead the Bears to seven appearances in the NCAA tournament, including the last six in a row. Prior to 2010, Baylor has made two Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights, and the program's inaugural Final Four appearance during a record-breaking 32-3 season in 2008.
Prior to Scrivano, Baylor had only made it out of the first round two times in six appearances, only reaching the Round of 16 on one occasion, 2001. The Bears had an NCAA tournament record of 3-6 before he arrived in 2003, and have since compiled a record of 14-6, only missing the dance in his second season.

BROOSOVA BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Senior Lenka Broosova was named the Big 12 Player of the year unanimously in a vote by the league's head coaches. She was also one of four Baylor singles players named to the All-Big 12 team, and half of the Lady Bears' all-conference doubles pair with Csilla €ˆBorsanyi.
Broosova dominated conference competition with a flawless 11-0 league record, along with a 10-0 Big 12 mark in doubles with Borsanyi. Broosova, ranked fifth in the NCAA, holds a 31-6 overall record in singles, including a 24-2 mark at the No. 1 position.
Joining her on the all-conference team were Borsanyi, Taylor Ormond, and Baylor singles wins leader Nina Secerbegovic. The honor is the fourth for Broosova, third for Ormond, second for Borsanyi and first for Secerbegovic. It also marks the third year in a row that Broosova has been part of an all-conference doubles tandem, and second for Borsanyi.

STREAKS, STREAKS, AND MORE STREAKS
The Lady Bears have put together one of the most impressive sets of streaks in Big 12 and Baylor history. They enter the NCAA Championship Round of 16 fresh off their sixth consecutive Big 12 regular season title and fifth consecutive Big 12 Championship title.
Baylor has completed each of the last three regular season Big 12 schedules without a blemish, and are currently on a streak of 42 consecutive Big 12 regular season wins and 55 consecutive wins over Big 12 opponents including the postseason. The last loss to a conference opponent came on March 4, 2007 to then-No. 43 Colorado in Boulder.
This season, Baylor went 6-2 in their first eight matches, with losses to only No. 11 North Carolina and No. 8 Michigan, but have ripped off their last 23 in a row to compile a 29-2 record. During the streak, Baylor beat four teams ranked in the top six in the nation.

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP
For the first time in program history, the Lady Bears reached the No. 1 ranking. On three seperate occasions in 2010, they have reached the top, including their current three-week stand at No. 1. Baylor was first ranked at the top for a week on March 16 after defeats of No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 North Carolina. Despite no losses, Baylor dropped out of the top spot for two weeks, until defeats of No.29 SMU, No. 36 Texas and No. 6 Northwestern helped them to the top again on April 6. Another perfect week led to a drop to the No. 2 spot for two weeks until the Tuesday, April 27, rankings.

IN THE CLASSROOM, TOO
Baylor's women's tennis team placed five student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 team as announced by conference officials on Tuesday, April 27. Among the five, three were honored for the second consecutive season.
Four of the five achieved first team status, with one on the second team. Making up Baylor's first team selections were two-time honorees Taylor Ormond and Karolina Filipiak, along with first-time honorees Csilla Borsanyi and Nina Secerbegovic. Jelena Stanivuk was also honored for the second year in a row, earning a spot on the second team.

LADY BEARS DOMINATE RANKED OPPONENTS
This season, the Lady Bears have held their own against ranked opponents, compiling an impressive 22-2 record, including a 6-1 mark against the nation's top 10. On March 10, Baylor recorded the highest-ranked win in school history with a 4-3 defeat at No. 2 UCLA. €ˆThree days later, BU €ˆavenged an early season loss to North Carolina to take down the fourth-ranked Tar Heels 4-3 in Waco. The Lady Bears only loss to a top-10 opponent was a 4-3 nailbiter at then-No. 8 Michigan.
Baylor also recorded top 10 wins at No. 6 Miami (4-3), in a neutral site match with No. 8 USC €ˆ(5-2), and at home against No. 6 Notre Dame (6-1) and No. 5 Northwestern (4-3).

BROOSOVA OWNING THE RECORD BOOK
Senior Lenka Broosova has put together possibly the most spectacular career in program history. Earlier this season, the three-time All-American and now four-time All-Big 12 first teamer broke the BU records for most singles and doubles wins in a career. In singles, Broosova broke the record with her first dual-match win of 2010, and has proceeded to put it out of reach with 24 more to bring her total to 151. In doubles, she broke the record nine wins into the season and now has 117 in her illustirous career.
With a perfect 11-0 record in Big 12 play this season, Broosova also took the No. 1 singles title. She was named the Big 12's Player of the Week twice this season, giving her five POW awards for her career.
What's more impressive is that Broosova has had a hand in every one of Baylor's 55 straight wins over Big 12 opponents, including the three consecutive undefeated regular seasons. Broosova has also had a hand in helping Baylor win four consecutive Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.

STREAKIN'
Individually, Baylor's singles and doubles lineups have put together impressive win streaks. Of Baylor's seven players who have shared the singles lineups, five of them have recorded a streak of at least eight wins, while all seven have had a win streak of at least four wins this season.
Sophomore Nina Secerbegovic, who leads BU with 38 singles wins on the season, opened the dual-match season with 18 consecutive wins. During that stretch, she lost just three sets and took down six ranked opponents. Secerbegovic has started another streak winning her last 10 matches entering the Round of 16.
Senior Lenka Broosova, who has lost just two singles matches during the dual-match season, has had seperate streaks of nine (current), eight and seven wins to her credit. Juniors Taylor Ormond and Karolina Filipiak each have recorded a win streak of eight matches, while senior Csilla Borsanyi is currently on a 14-match win streak entering the Round of 16.
In doubles, the duo of Secerbegovic and Jelena Stanivuk joined forces midseason and have been on a tear, winning all 16 matches they have played together. Meanwhile, Baylor's 10th-ranked duo of Broosova and Borsanyi is currently on an 11-match win streak and own a 25-4 record.

BIG 12 SINGLES AND DOUBLES CHAMPS
Baylor's singles lineup in conference play combined to take individual medalist honors at three positions, while finishing runner-up at two other positions. At the No. 1 spot, Lenka Broosova put together a perfect season with an 11-0 record, while Nina Secerbegovic was 10-1 at No. 2, and Csilla Borsanyi was 9-2 at No. 4 to become singles champs. BU's runner-ups came at No. 5 with Karolina Filipiak and at No. 6 with Carla Lindlar, each finishing with an 8-1 record.
In doubles play, Broosova and Borsanyi formed a perfect duo to win the Big 12 title at No. 1 with a 10-0 record.
The honor is given to the student-athlete who records the most wins at a given position.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE FALL
During individual tournaments during the fall 2009, this Baylor squad set the table for the season, combining to win two tournaments and reach at least the semifinals in two others. Senior Csilla Borsanyi ripped off five consecutive victories on her home court to take the HEB €ˆBaylor Invitational title. In the championship match, she defeated Texas A&M's Elze Potgieter. Junior Jelena Stanivuk started the fall with a victory in BU's first tournament, the Midland Racquet Club Invitational in Midland, €ˆTexas. Sophomore Nina Secerbegovic won five straight matches to reach the final of the Wilson/ITA €ˆTexas Regional held in Waco, but fell to Texas standout Aeriel Ellis. Senior Lenka Broosova took down two top 30 opponents to reach the semifinals of the ITA €ˆNational Indoor Championships before falling to eighth-ranked Irina Falconi from Georgia Tech.