University of North Florida
Florida State University
No. 68 UNF to Face No. 15 FSU in NCAA First Round
5/13/2010 5:58:25 PM | Women's Tennis
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The No. 68 ranked University of North Florida women's tennis team will face No. 15 Florida State on Friday, May 14 in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Match time is set for 1 p.m. at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on the campus of FSU.
UNF (20-2, 9-1 A-Sun) captured the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Tennis Championship to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This is the first year the Ospreys have been eligible for postseason play since completing the transition to NCAA Division I status.
“We are excited to be going to the NCAAs in our first season of eligibility,” said head coach Rodrigo Puebla. “This is a great opportunity for our team. We have worked hard all season to get to this point and we are going to go out tomorrow and hopefully play some of our best tennis of the season.”
Leading the team all season was the 2010 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, sophomore Aline Berkenbrock, who tallied a perfect 21-0 mark on the season at No. 1 singles. She claimed singles wins against ranked players from ETSU, UCF and Purdue, as well as, picking up wins against the No. 1 players from then-ranked Stetson and College of Charleston.
Berkenbrock along with senior partner Raquel Castro are ranked 80th in the ITA doubles standings. The pair posted an 18-3 record on the season at No. 1. They defeated the 57th ranked duo of Valentina Galbarini and Carolina de los Santos twice this past season with the last win coming in the A-Sun semifinals. Berkenbrock and Castro rallied in doubles in the A-Sun finals to secure the doubles point for the Ospreys.
Castro has a 16-4 singles mark on the season at No. 2 and was named to the Atlantic Sun Conference Second Team along with sophomore transfer Danielle Day. Day has tallied a 20-4 mark in her first season with the Ospreys and has played primarily at No. 3. Day won at the No. 3 in the A-Sun finals.
Freshman Melanie Aguirre won the No. 5 singles in the A-Sun finals to secure the conference title for the Ospreys. She earned a spot on the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team and has a 13-4 record at No. 5 this season.
Juniors Victoria Krook and Lauren Holton are 20-2 and 17-2, respectively on the season. Krook has played primarily at No. 4 and Holton at No. 6. Krook also won her singles match in the A-Sun finals.
Florida State (14-10, 6-4 ACC) hosts the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in school history. The Seminoles are led by No. 22 ranked Lauren McCreless and No. 103 Francesca Segarelli in singles. McCreless and Segarelli are also ranked No. 55 in doubles.
FSU fell to No. 2 UNC in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.
The winner of the match will face the winner of the Friday morning match between No. 54 TCU and No. 18 South Carolina.
Live stats for the match will be available by clicking here.
