Updated Player Profiles
Match-By-Match Recap
The Terrier women's tennis team leaves for Los Angeles on May 10th and the first-round NCAA West Regional matchup against eighth-seeded UCLA on May 12th. The two teams will play at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at 1:00 p.m. pacific time.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S TENNIS NOTES NCAA Division 1 Tournament West Regional May 12-13, 2000 Los Angeles Tennis Center * Los Angeles, CA
THE BRACKET: The Terriers (13-5) will take on the tournament's eighth-seeded UCLA Bruins (14-8) in the featured match at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, May 12th. Earlier in the day, at 10:00 a.m., the University of Washington (12-9) will meet Georgia Tech (13-7). The two winners will meet on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. That winner will then advance to the Round of 16, which will be played May 18th. This bracket winner will meet the winner of the bracket that includes seventh-seeded University of Texas (20-5), Baylor (21-4), Texas-Arlington (17-4), and Indiana (14-11). The Division 1 Tournament's quarterfinals will be played May 19th, the semifinals will be played the following day and the championship on May 21st. Pepperdine University, which is located in Malibu, CA, will also host all rounds from the Round of 16 through the title match.
ONLY TEAM FROM NEW ENGLAND: Boston University is the only team from New England to receive a bid to this year's Division 1 Tournament.
SECOND STRAIGHT TRIP FOR TERRIERS: This marks the second straight year the Terriers have been invited to the NCAA Tournament. Through the first 22 years of the sport's history at B.U., no Terrier women's tennis team ever participated in the NCAA Tournament. It wasn't a question of B.U. not having a competitive team. On the contrary, the Terriers have had one of the region's top teams over the years. In fact, the Terriers had won the America East title every year from 1989 through 1998 with the exception of 1993. That year, the Terriers opted for the ECAC Tournament rather than the America East Championships. However, during an 11-year span, the NCAA invited only one of the East Region's 94 teams to the 32-team tournament. Then, two years ago, the NCAA went to regionalization where the East's top five teams were invited to the tournament. The Terriers came close to being invited but never cracked the top echelon of teams. Finally, last year, the NCAA extended an automatic bid to all 30 conferences that sponsored women's tennis, while the rest of the 64-team field came from at-large bids. Since the Terriers won the America East title, they received their first-ever bid last year.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED: As was the case a year ago, B.U. qualified for the NCAA Tournament by virtue of its winning the America East title. The Terriers dominated the tournament, shutting out all three of their opponents. In fact, no B.U. player lost a set during the three-day tournament. In the first round, the top-seeded Terriers blanked eighth-seeded Drexel, 9-0. In the match, sophomore Christina Causway (Wilson, NC), senior Chrissy Cerretani (Reading, MA), and freshman Alana Marcu (Leonia, NJ) notched straight-set 6-0 victories, as the Terriers combined to outscore Drexel, 72-6, in the singles. In the second round, B.U. eliminated fourth-seeded Hofstra, 5-0. Once again, Causway, Cerretani, and Marcu posted straight-set 6-0 wins, as B.U. outscored the Flying Dutchwomen, 60-3. Finally, in the title match, the Terriers blanked second-seeded Delaware, 6-0. These matches were closer as there were no 6-0, 6-0 wins, while B.U. outscored the Fightin' Blue Hens, 72-19.
CAUSWAY LOST JUST ONE GAME: In her three matches at the conference championship, Causway lost just one game as she outscored her opponents, 36-1. The lone loss came in game five of the second set in the title match against the University of Delaware. Thus, at one point, she had won 34 straight games. After losing game five, she won her next two games to emerge with the title at number two singles.
NASSI VOTED MOST OUTSTANDING: Senior co-captain Selin Nassi (Fort Lauderdale, FL) was voted the America East tournament's outstanding player by the conference coaches. Playing number one singles, Nassi beat Drexel's Julia Litvak, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round; Hofstra's Mihaela Stefan, 6-0, 6-2, in the semifinals; and Delaware's Elly Giese, 6-2, 6-1, in the title match.
NASSI NAMED TEAM MVP: The team's number one singles player for virtually the entire season, Nassi has been voted the MVP of this year's team. Her overall singles record coming into the NCAAs is 19-13, including a 14-8 mark at number one ... She compiled a 5-2 record in her last seven matches. One of the losses was a three-set decision against Boston College, while the other was a 5-7, 5-7 loss in the regular-season finale against Harvard.
A RETURN TO CALIFORNIA: As far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned, it's "California, here we come" again for the Terriers. A year ago, the Terriers traveled to Pepperdine where they lost to the ninth-seeded Wave, 5-0.
FIVE OF SIX ARE RETURNING: Five of the six Terriers who played in last year's NCAA's are back again. The returnees include number one singles player Selin Nassi, number two Christina Causway (Wilson, NC), number three Karina Shostakovsky (Atlanta, GA), number four Carrie Rose, and number five Chrissy Cerretani (Reading, MA) ... The only newcomer is freshman Alana Marcu (Leonia, NJ).
FOURTH TRIP TO NCAAs FOR COACH: For Terrier coach Lesley Sheehan, this will mark her fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament.. A 1984 graduate of Boston University, she played in the 1983 and 1984 NCAA Tournaments. 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. In 1992, in recognition of her outstanding collegiate career, Sheehan became the only Terrier women's player to be inducted into the Terriers' Athletic Hall of Fame.
A RETURN FOR THE COACH: In 1984, Sheehan's first-round match against Wendy Wood was played at the Lost Angeles Tennis Center. She has not been back here since.
SHEEHAN ON COMPARING LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR: "I think it is different for our players this year. Playing in the NCAAs last year was an all-new experience. We didn't know what to expect, and we were in awe coming out to California and playing in the NCAA Tournament against a top-ranked team like Pepperdine. This year, we are certainly excited to be playing against a program like UCLA. But, now we know what to expect, and we are going to try to do more than we did last year. This is a great opportunity for our program."
PLAYERS TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE: The three Terrier senior co-captains commented about the difference between last year's first-ever appearance in the NCAA's and this year's return.
Selin Nassi: "Last year, we were just excited about being in California and playing a team like Pepperdine," said Nassi, who transferred to B.U. after spending her first year at the University of Miami. "This year, we are just as excited about returning to the NCAA's and playing a team like UCLA. Our goal this entire year was to win the Conference title, return to the NCAA's, and then win some matches. We know what to expect this year, and we will be focused on doing more than just showing up."
Karina Shostakovsky: "I am very excited about returning to the NCAA's," said Shostakovsky, who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia but moved to the United States when she was 11 years old. "Having been there last year, I think we will be more prepared mentally and physically for this year's Tournament." Chrissy Cerretani: "I think we will be more prepared this year than we were last year," said Cerretani, who spent her freshman season at Clemson University. "We have worked real hard this year, and we will be prepared. It is a real honor to be invited to the NCAA's, and to play a team like UCLA. I think it is a great credit to Lesley and the job she has done here."
ON PLAYING UCLA: "We will certainly have our hands full playing UCLA," commented Coach Sheehan. "They come into the Tournament seeded eighth, but they have been ranked as high as fifth. In addition, they have the nation's second-ranked singles player in Sara Walker. Plus, they have three other singles players ranked nationally (Annica Cooper is 47th, while Abigail Spears and Amanda Basica are numbers 77 and 79, respectively.). Our main goal is to keep our frustration low. The shots that have been put-aways for us in other matches this year are not going to be put-aways against UCLA. Our players have to expect the ball to come back, and the pace will be a lot harder than what we are used to. We also have to be patient on the base line. They will hit the ball deep on us, which will keep us from being aggressive. We like to attack the net when we can, but they will hit the ball deep, which will keep us on the baseline. At this point in the season, it is all mental. We have been playing and working out since September. There is nothing more we can do physically. It is all mental now. It is exciting to be playing a team like UCLA. It is great for our players and great for our program to be playing them."
SHEEHAN ON THE SEASON: "I am very pleased with how the season has gone for us. One of our goals was to win the America East title and return to the NCAA's, and we achieved that goal. We also had a nine-match winning streak in the spring, and there were some good wins. We shut out Brown, and beat Dartmouth, Rutgers, and West Virginia during that stretch. I am also happy that we will be going into the NCAA's healthy. Our fall season was very disappointing because of the chronic injuries that we had. Everyone missed at least one match because of an injury. In fact, we weren't able to compete in the ECAC's because we didn't have enough healthy players. As a result, we spent November through January getting healthy for the spring season, and it paid off. It is disappointing we didn't play well in our last two regular-season matches. Boston College played great against us, and you have to give them credit. Against Harvard, we didn't play our best. They frustrated us and we just couldn't work through it."
WINNINGEST TERRIERS: Freshman Alana Marcu has posted the most singles wins among the Terriers this year. She comes into the Tournament with a record of 22-10. She is also second in winning percentage with a .688 ... Junior Carrie Rose is second in wins with 21, while she leads the team in winning percentage with a .700.
ROSE HAS BEEN MOST IMPROVED: Certainly, one of the team's most improved players for the Terriers this year has been junior Carrie Rose ... As a sophomore last year, she compiled a 16-11 record, which included a 10-6 mark in the spring ... Her record during the spring is 15-5, including a five-match winning streak entering the NCAA's. One of the wins was a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Harvard in the team's regular-season finale. Hers was the only point the Terriers earned against the Crimson ... At last year's NCAA matchup against Pepperdine, Rose was the only Terrier player to win a set. Playing at number four singles, she won the first set, 6-3, but lost the second set, 2-6. She was down in the third set, 0-1, when Pepperdine notched its fifth point of the match, thus ending the match, 5-0.
HOTTEST TERRIERS: In addition to Rose, who is undefeated in her last five matches and is 8-2 in her last 10, the following Terriers come into the Tournament on a hot streakMarcu is 12-2 in her last 14 matches, Cerretani is 11-1 in her last 12, Causway is 8-2 in her last 10, Shostakovsky is 7-2 in her last 9, and Nassi is 5-2 in her last 7.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN BY CLASS: The Terriers come to LA with a veteran roster that includes three seniorsChrissy Cerretani, Selin Nassi, and Karina Shostakovsky; two juniorsNing Ham and Carrie Rose, one sophomoreChristina Causway, and two freshmenAlana Marcu and Andrea Nickel.
GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN: The eight players on the roster come from six different States and Canada. New Jersey is the only State that has more than one player.
Canada: Andrea Nickel (Vancouver, BC) Florida: Selin Nassi (Fort Lauderdale) Georgia: Karina Shostakovsky (Atlanta) Massachusetts: Chrissy Cerretani (Reading) Michigan: Carrie Rose (Bloomfield Hills) New Jersey: Ning Ham (Jersey City), Alana Marcu (Leonia) North Carolina: Christina Causway (Wilson)
