Tennis team nationally ranked

By Wes Schobel
Staff Writer

The Georgia College & State University tennis teams will begin their seasons ranked among the best in the nation according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) NCAA Division II Final Fall Rankings.
The women’s team is ranked #13 in the national poll and is one of seven Peach Belt Athletic Conference teams ranked including Armstrong Atlantic State at #4, North Florida at #9, Clayton State at #10, Kennesaw State at #20, Francis Marion at #29, and UNC Pembroke at #30. The top three schools are Lynn University, BYU-Hawaii, and West Florida respectively.
The women are also ranked #7 in the ITA South Regional Poll along with seven other PBAC schools.
“We have a deeper team than last year, and our chances of winning the regionals are very good if we can avoid injuries,” Coach Steve Barsby said.
As far as winning the national championship, Barsby said he believes they have a real chance to get there and compete with the best in spite of tough competition. The team has been to the NCAA Regional Tournament seven years in a row.
Three-time All-American senior Julia Roudkovskaya, ranked #5 in the nation, and freshman Annika Persson, ranked #37 nationally, are standouts on the team. The pair is ranked #14 nationally in doubles competition.
Coach Barsby said he thinks the key to the success of the team of six players is getting more wins from their 4th, 5th and 6th spots. They open the spring 2002 season Feb. 8 at Augusta State University.
The men’s team is ranked #31 in the national poll along with five other PBAC schools including #9 Francis Marion, #10 North Florida, #19 Armstrong Atlantic State, #20 USC Spartanburg, and #21 Lander. Hawaii Pacific is ranked #1.
All nine Peach Belt schools that field a men’s team are ranked in the top 20 in the ITA South Regional Poll, and GCSU’s men are ranked #14. The Peach Belt Conference is considered the best in the nation because it has the most ranked teams.
The men’s team will have a tougher road ahead. This season’s team is young, with only one senior and the rest freshmen and sophomores.
“We’re better than last year, and we’re almost there,” Barsby said.
He added that he thinks the men’s team needs to learn to compete more and to believe that there are no impossible matches. Standouts for the men’s team are Mikael Pettersson and Thomas Carlsson.
Their season opens Jan.30 at Mercer University.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 7 2001. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry