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LADY VOL TENNIS RANKED 18TH TO OPEN 2012 SEASON
Three Individuals Ranked In Singles, Two Duos In Doubles
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. - The Tennessee Lady Vol tennis team will open the 2012 spring
season ranked 18th nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association
(ITA), which released its first team poll Tuesday along with individual
singles and doubles rankings.
 The
Lady Vols return three letterwinners, all of whom are ranked in
singles, from a 2011 team that became the 10th in program history to
reach 20 wins.
UT’s lone senior Natalie Pluskota will
debut her final season with her highest career singles ranking, slotted
24th, while sophomore Brynn Boren and junior Kata Szekely are ranked
27th and 59th, respectively. All three improved their ratings from the
preseason poll (Sept. 9), which saw Pluskota at 29, Boren at 31 and
Szekely unranked.
Tennessee also has a pair of formidable
duos ranked in the doubles poll. Pluskota and Szekely, who played
together for the first time this past fall and advanced to the
quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate
Championships, are ranked ninth. Boren and freshman Sarah Toti, who
combined for an 11-3 mark in the fall, are up 10 spots to 18th.
Pluskota,
who is one of seven players nationally to be ranked both in the top 10
of doubles and top 25 of singles, enters the season tied for the
11th-most doubles wins in UT history with 88. The Newnan, Ga., native
went 8-5 in singles and 9-4 in doubles during the fall.
Boren
tied for a team-high eight singles wins in the fall, including three
over ranked opponents. Last season, she was ranked as high as 20th.
Szekely
is ranked in both polls for the first time in her career after
recording seven singles wins and nine doubles victories in the fall,
while Toti is a part of a four-player freshman class that will play a
crucial role this season and provide depth.
The
third consecutive year in which the Lady Vols are ranked in the top 20
in the initial poll, Tennessee is also one of just three schools with
multiple doubles teams ranked in the top 20 and one of six with at
least two top-30 singles players.
Tennessee opens
dual-match play against Virginia on Jan. 21 in Flushing, N.Y., at the
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the Lady Vols will also
face North Carolina the following day.
ITA RANKINGS - JAN. 3
SINGLES
Natalie Pluskota - 24
Brynn Boren - 27
Kata Szekely - 59
DOUBLES
Natalie Pluskota/Kata Szekely - 9
Brynn Boren/Sarah Toti - 18
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