Women Netters Prep for NCAA Tournament
May 12, 1999 | Women's Tennis
The women's tennis team will be heading to the West Coast on Thursday for the biggest match in the program's 23-year history at B.U. The Terriers, winners of their final seven matches of the season, will take on the nation's ninth-ranked Pepperdine Waves on Saturday morning (11:00 a.m. Pacific Time). Pepperdine is the region's top seed, while B.U. is seeded fourth.The winner will play the victor of the Ohio State--LSU match on Sunday. The Buckeyes and Tigers will play their match on Saturday afternoon
FIRST APPEARANCE EVER FOR TEAM: This marks the first time in the 23-year history of women's tennis at Boston University that the Terriers have qualified for the NCAA Division 1 Women's Tennis Tournament.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED: The Terriers, who were top-seeded in the America East Tournament April 23rd to the 25th, rolled to identical 9-0 wins over Hartford and Towson in the first two rounds and a 6-0 blanking of Delaware in the championship match en route to the conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAAs. No B.U. player lost a single set in any of the three victories. In the tournament's opening-round win over Hartford, four-of-the-six singles matches ended in 6-0, 6-0 scores. And, in two of the three doubles matches, B.U. tandems won, 8-0. Then, in the semifinals against Towson, two singles matches ended in 6-0, 6-0 scores, while a third singles match wound up 6-1, 6-0. Finally, in the win over Delaware, there was one 6-0, 6-0 singles win, while two others ended in 6-0, 6-1 scores. With the title wrapped up after the singles competition vs. Delaware, there were no doubles matches contested.
TERRIERS HONORED BY THE CONFERENCE: Head coach Lesley Sheehan was named the America East Coach of the Year for the third time. She was also honored in 1989 and 1996. Also honored by the conference were Jen Momii, who was voted the America East Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Playing at number two singles in the title match against Delaware, she won, 6-2, 6-4. Earlier in the tournament, she played number one singles vs. Hartford and won, 6-3, 6-2, and then played number two vs Towson and won, 6-2, 6-4. The league coaches voted Selin Nassi the conference's Outstanding Player. Finally, Nassi, Momii, Christine Causway, Carrie Rose, Karen Shostakovsky, Chrissy Cerretani, Mary Granger, Adrianna Babasova, and Ning Ham were named All-Conference.
THIRD TRIP TO NCAAs FOR COACH: For Coach Sheehan, this will mark her third trip to the NCAA tournament, as her first two were as a player. A 1984 graduate of Boston University and inducted in the Terriers' Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992, the coach played in the 1983 and 1984 NCAA Tournament. In 1983, she won her first-round match against a player from Harvard but lost in the second round to the University of South Carolina's Laura Bernstein. Then, in 1984, she lost in the first round to Wendy Wood of Rice University. Ironically, Wood came from a neighboring town (Lexington, MA) from Sheehan's Reading, MA. And, the two grew up playing against each other.
SHEEHAN ON COMPARING PLAYING AND COACHING IN THE NCAAs: "It is very exciting to be bringing a team to the NCAA Tournament. I remember what it was like for me to be playing in the tournament. It was an experience I will never forget. In fact, when I look back on my playing career at Boston University, the first thing I remember is playing in the NCAAs. This is something our players will now have. I know the excitement they are now feeling."
SHEEHAN ON WHAT SHE WILL TELL PLAYERS: "I want them to be more than just happy to be here. I want them to know they have worked very hard, and they belong here. I want them to continue to play at the high level they have played over the last seven matches of the season."
TERRIERS ENTERING ON SEVEN-MATCH WINNING STREAK: In a classic "Tale of Two Seasons," the Terriers come into the NCAAs on a seven-match winning streak. Prior to that, they had lost six a row, as their record this spring dropped to 3-7... After compiling a 5-2 record last fall, B.U. opened the spring campaign with a 3-1 mark. They had wins over Seton Hall, 7-2, James Madison, 6-3, and Florida International, 7-2, while their lone loss was to nationally-ranked Miami, 9-0. Then, on March 23rd, the Terriers dropped a 5-4 decision to Brown and began a six-match losing streak. Thus, when B.U. hosted Syracuse on April 18th, the team was 8-9 overall and 3-7 in the spring. Rolling to wins in five of six singles matches, the Terriers posted an impressive 5-1 win over the Orange and were on their way to a 10-7 spring record and 15-9 overall.
46-5 DURING THE STREAK: During the seven-match winning streak, the Terriers have a 46-5 record in individual matches. They have shut out three opponentsHartford (9-0), Towson (9-0), and Delaware (6-0), while they have lost only one individual match in three of the victoriesSyracuse (5-1), Providence (5-1), and Harvard (5-1). Only once during this stretch has one team managed as many as two winsUMass/Amherst (7-2).
SHEEHAN ON THE SEASON: "It has been a year of peaks and valleys for us. We played well in the fall and had a 5-2 record despite four players being injured (Jennifer Momii had a sprained ankle, Ning Ham had an Achilles injury, Karen Shostakovsky had a sprained arm, and Chrissy Cerretani had a pulled rib muscle). I thought we would have a great spring with all four of these players coming back,and we opened on a strong note. We won three of our first four matches, including two in our region (Seton Hall and James Madison). Then, we lost to Brown in a match we thought we were going to win. We lost two three-set matches in the singles but were still tied 3-3 going into the doubles. There, we lost two-of-three, and it was very disappointing. Then, after that, we had a tough trip to Virginia. It was a tiring trip down there, and we played three matches in three days, and lost all three. We then came back to play at Dartmouth, and lost there, 5-4. That's when I began to make some changes in the lineup both in singles and doubles. We then lost to BC, but came back to beat Syracuse. That was the turning point of the season for us. They were nationally ranked, and it put us back in the rankings. It also gave us a tremendous amount of confidence, as we felt we could play at that level. Since then, we have been playing at a consistently high level of tennis. In the last seven matches, we have never had a letdown."
NUMBER 75 IN MOST RECENT RANKING: In the most recent national rankings, the Terriers were 75th. They moved up to that spot after beating Syracuse. There have been no rankings since the win over Harvard, which was 46th prior to B.U.'s season-ending victory over the Crimson.
WIN OVER HARVARD WAS "ONE OF BIGGEST UPSETS IN OUR PROGRAM": The Terriers closed out their regular-season with an impressive 5-1 win over Harvard. Sheehan called it "one of the biggest upsets in our program." Only one of the six singles matches went to three setsat number two where Jennifer Momii lost 4-6, 7-5, 4-6. The Terriers swept the other five singles matches in straight sets, as B.U. had the match wrapped up after the singles play. As a result, there was no doubles competition.
HARVARD IS COMMON FOE: Both B.U. and Pepperdine have played the Crimson, as this is the only common foe. While the Terriers closed out their regular-season with the 5-1 win on May 1st, the Waves defeated Harvard 7-2, on April 3rd.
ON PLAYING PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine, with its number-nine ranking in the country, represents the highest-ranked team a B.U. woman's tennis team has ever played. "It is a tough draw for us, but I want to play Pepperdine. This is what playing in the NCAAs is all about. I remember playing in the NCAA Tournament the first time, and I played someone from Harvard. I was very excited about playing the NCAAs, but I didn't want to play someone from Harvard. We could have played each other in Boston. When you qualify for the NCAA Tournament, you want to play someone who is nationally-ranked, and someone from outside your region. You want to see how good a player you are, and how you compare against someone from another part of the country. That's what playing Pepperdine gives our players."
HOMECOMING FOR MOMII: For Jennifer Momii the NCAAs provide a homecoming. A senior co-captain, she hails from Torrance, CA, about 40 minutes from Pepperdine. This will mark the first time in her collegiate career that her mother will have an opportunity to see Jennifer play. A two-year league champion and four-year MVP at Torrance High School, she lost just three matches during her scholastic career. In 1992, as a freshman, she was undefeated and became the first freshman to win the LA City Singles Championship. She was ranked number nine in the USTA Sectional rankings and was 72nd in the National 16-under.
SECOND NCAAs FOR CERRETANI: For junior Chrissy Cerretani, this will mark the second time she has been on a team that qualified for the NCAAs, but this will be the first time she will play in the Tournament. A freshman on Clemson University's 1995-96 women's tennis team, Cerretani was sidelined by a broken foot but made the trip with the Lady Tigers to the 1996 NCAAs at Florida State. Clemson had qualified for the Nationals by winning the East Region, and, there, Cerretani won her match.
TWO TRANSFERS: The Terriers have two transfers on their roster. The first is Cerretani, who, as mentioned above, transferred from Clemson. While there, as a freshman during the 1995-96 season, she played number-five singles and number-two doubles. In doubles play, she was runnerup for All-Atlantic Conference honors. During the 1996-97 season, she saw limited action. The other transfer is Selin Nassi, who originally matriculated at the University of Miami. As a freshman, she ranked 47th in the nation. Then, last year, playing for the Big East champion Lady Hurricanes, she finished with a 12-11 record, including a 3-0 record at number-four singles.
WINNINGEST TERRIERS: Karen Shostakovsky and Chrissy Cerretani have posted the best records this spring. Playing primarily numbers five and six singles, Shostakovsky has a 15-1 mark, while Cerretani, who has seen most of her action at number six singles, is 10-1.
SHOSTAKOVSKY HOTTEST TERRIER: The Terrier junior from Atlanta, GA has not lost a match since March 26th when she was defeated 1-6, 0-6 at the University of Virginia. Since then, she has won her last 11 matches to bring her overall season record to 23-5.
BEST AT DOUBLES: The Terriers' best double tandem this spring has been Jennifer Momii and Carrie Rose. They are 7-2 in dual matches and 1-0 in tournament play for an overall record of 8-2.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN BY CLASS: The Terriers travel to Pepperdine with a roster that includes just two seniorsco-captains Mary Granger and Jennifer Momii, three juniorsChrissy Cerretani, Selin Nassi, and Karen Shostakovsky, two sophomoresNing Ham and Carrie Rose, and one freshmanChristina Causway.
GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN: There are now two Terrier players from the same place. Mary Granger is the only international student-athlete, as she comes from Nottingham, England. The other seven players on the roster come from the United States, but each from a different state.
California: Jennifer Momii (Torrance) Florida: Selin Nassi (Fort Lauderdale) Georgia: Karen Shostakovsky (Atlanta) Massachusetts: Chrissy Cerretani (Reading) Michigan: Carrie Rose (Bloomfield Hills) New Jersey: Ning Ham (Jersey City) North Carolina: Christina Causway (Wilson)
