Women's Tennis 2011 NCAA Tournament Preview

IPFW Individual Statistics

Fort Wayne, IN – After finding out its opponent for the first round of the NCAA Tournament over a week ago, IPFW (27-3) will travel to Evanston, Illinois tomorrow morning to prepare to face No. 16 seeded Northwestern (20-7) on Friday (May 13).

Match time is set for 2:00 p.m. (EST) at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center, but will be played indoors at the Combe Tennis Center in the event of inclement weather.

After making school history last year for the first appearance in the tournament, the Mastodons have put the nerves aside and are looking for another chance in the first round after losing to No. 5 seeded Notre Dame, 4-3, last year.

As for Northwestern, the Wildcats will be making a NCAA Tournament appearance for the 12^th consecutive year and has reached the round of 16, 10 of the 11 previous times. NU's lone senior on the squad and No. 1 singles and doubles player, Maria Mosolova, reached the NCAA singles quarterfinals as a freshman.

While the two programs have never met, IPFW's No. 2 singles player and senior, Ingrid Ballus, faced NU's Stacey Lee at the ITA Midwest Regional in Ann Arbor, Michigan in October, but Ballus suffered a 6-3, 6-2 loss.

IPFW has continued to set records for the women's tennis programs in the spring, including most wins in a season (27), most consecutive shutouts (nine) and outscored conference opponents 50-2 (200-43 total), which surpasses the previous record of 46-3 (150-41 total) last season. With a 17-match win streak, the Mastodons have their second longest streak in school history; the 2010 season had 21 consecutive wins.

The Mastodons have won 48 straight matches when they earn the doubles point, the last time IPFW earned the doubles point but lost the match was against Oral Roberts in the Summit League Championship in 2009. Since the 2008-2009 season, the 'Dons have played 88 matches in doubles en route to a 71-17 doubles record. Overall for the year, IPFW is 92-25 (69-16 dual) in doubles and 184-58 (134-28 dual) in singles.

Notre Dame (15-9) and Fresno State (11-13) complete the four-team format and will play in match one on Friday at 11:00 a.m. (EST). The winners of match one and two will play at 1:00 p.m. (EST) on Saturday (May 14).

Live stats will be available throughout the matches and can be viewed on the tournament's website.

~Dons~

First Round | Friday, May 13(all times shown in Eastern)

11 a.m., Match One
Notre Dame (15-9) vs. Fresno State (11-13)

2 p.m., Match Two
IPFW (27-3) vs. # 16 Northwestern (20-7)

Regional Final | Saturday, May 14

1 p.m., Match Three

Winner of Match One vs. Winner of Match Two

IPFW's Probable lineup

Singles

1. 1. Amy Recht (28-9)
2. Ingrid Ballus (33-7)
3. Raquel Vescovi (29-11)
4. Caterina Kiefer (30-5)
5. Yuka Kobayashi (28-9)
6, Alex Forsyth (19-13)
Alternate: Frederique Sunstrum (12-4)