April 28, 2009

From Army Athletic Communications

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army women's tennis team gave head coach Paul Peck a memorable birthday present Tuesday evening, as the Black Knights were awarded a trip to the Sunshine State to take on No. 6 Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to be held May 8-10 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Making its fifth-straight trip to the NCAAs, Army will meet the Hurricanes for the first time in school history. Exact match time will be revealed as it becomes available.

The Black Knights learned of their postseason fate during a gathering at Peck's house on Tuesday, as the team, coaches and support staff watched the seedings live on ESPNews' selection show airing.

"We are thrilled with our draw and another chance to represent West Point in the NCAA Tournament," said the nine-time Patriot League Coach of the Year. "Miami will certainly be a very tough opponent, but that's something that we've gotten used to going up against. Our regular-season schedule has progressively gotten much tougher in the last couple of years so hopefully that will work in our favor.

"A trip like this puts the exclamation point on a long year of hard work for these ladies. We've said all year long that this season is a journey - full of ups and downs. But another Patriot League title and chance to play amongst the best this country has to offer makes all of the effort worth it. It's the fruit of a lot of labor and a reward for a very hard-working, dedicated team."

Army was one of 31 qualifiers to receive an automatic bid. First- and second-round competition will be conducted May 8-10 with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas, hosted by Texas A&M University. The team championship will be held May 15-19. Northwestern (1), Georgia (2), Duke (3) and Baylor (4) paced the field as the top overall seeds.

The teams will play a single-elimination tournament at 16 first- and second-round sites (four teams at each site) and the finals site (16-team bracket) to determine the national champion. Joining Army at Miami will be Florida International and Princeton. The matches shall be regulation dual matches with three (3) eight-game, pro-set doubles played for one team point, followed by six (6) singles matches, each valued at one team point, played best of three sets. Regular scoring will be used and a 12-point tiebreaker will be played at eight games all in doubles and at six games all in singles.

"Florida is such a familiar area for us, having spent a lot of time down there training," Peck added. "We have a few kids from there, along with strong recruiting and fan bases. Really, it's an ideal location for us."

Senior Niki Flach (Naples, Fla.) and sophomores Michael Tollerton (Sarasota, Fla.) and Caitlin Finnegan (Weston, Fla.) all hail from the Sunshine State.

Army earned the Patriot League's automatic bid for the fifth year in a row by virtue of its 4-1 win over Bucknell in the Patriot League Championship match. The Black Knights head into the postseason having won 22 of their last 23 dual matches, including the team's sixth-straight undefeated Patriot League regular season (5-0). All 22 of those victories came by at least three points with the team's only blemish being a 4-3 setback against Long Island on April 11.

Miami begins its NCAA run coming off a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Duke in the finals of the ACC Tournament. The Hurricanes are ranked sixth in the country, according to the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings (April 27), and are one of three ACC teams to comprise the top-10, joining third-ranked Duke and No. 8 Georgia Tech. Miami sophomore Julia Cohen and junior Laura Vallverdu anchor the Hurricanes and are both ranked in the top-25 singles players in the country at No. 4 and No. 24, respectively. Vallverdu and Michaela Kissell comprise the country's No. 17 doubles team as well. The Hurricanes had won 12 matches in a row before their tournament loss to Duke and sport a 23-4 overall record, including a 10-1 ACC mark.

Depth and experience will work to the Black Knights' advantage as the team departs for Coral Gables, Fla. Peck is expected to use the same lineup that won him a 10th Patriot League title last weekend. Sophomore Anne Houghton anchors the team at No. 1. Her 28 wins are more than any other player on the roster, while her 18 dual-match victories at No. 1 are a new Army record. Flach and fellow senior Sarah Giles-Madden will hold down duties in the second and third flights, respectively, as the pair will start in their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament match.

The bottom half of Army's lineup has been picking up steam as the regular season came to a close, led by junior Kristin Beehler, who is riding a six-match win streak as Army's No. 4 player. Tollerton and classmate Robie Verano take care of Nos. 5 and 6, respectively. All three players have gone undefeated in at least the last six matches, which includes the Patriot League Championships. Beehler and Verano stood out as they collected Co-Most Valuable Player honors at the tournament's end. Verano currently owns Army's longest active singles win streak at 12 matches, while Tollerton has won 10 in a row.

Flach and Tollerton will reprise their roles as Army's No. 1 doubles team and are looking to improve on a 16-6 record since teaming-up this spring. Houghton and Beehler, who boast a team-best 20-5 mark, will play in the second flight. The formidable pair has won 13 matches in a row, and has not lost since March 1. The newest pairing of the three, Giles-Madden and Verano will look to stay perfect as they put their 4-0 record to the test at No. 3. Two of the pair's four wins came in the Patriot League Tournament.

"A lot of people think of tennis as being an individual sport," Peck said. "But that could not be further from the truth with this group. It's really a team sport, especially at this level, with so many contributors. They push each other every day in practice, motivate one another to better their games and know that they're ultimately working towards a team goal of winning each match."

Army has traveled to California in each of the last four years - Stanford (2005), Southern California (2006), Fresno State (2007), California-Berkeley (2008) - and left with a 4-0 defeat each time. The Black Knights have not scored a point in eight previous NCAA trips. Only Army lacrosse and rifle, which have qualified for their respective NCAA Tournaments 15 times apiece, have made more NCAA appearances than women's tennis.