Maryland Women's Tennis vs. Virginia Commonwealth Preview

The Terps opened up their 1997 last weekend by sweeping both West Virginia and Georgetown here at the tennis bubble. Both matches resulted in clean sweeps in six singles matches and three doubles matches for the Terps.

The Terps are coming off of an incredible breakthrough year in which they made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. The Terps finished with a 9-7 record in the regular season in 1996 and finished tied for fourth place in the ACC.

Coach Jim Laitta was recognized for his accomplishments in 1996 by being named ACC Coach of the Year and NCAA Region I Coach of the Year.

The Terps finding their way into the ITA/ Rolex National Rankings in 1997. The team is currently ranked No. 37, the highest ranking ever for a Maryland women's tennis team. Freshman Lorraine Bittles is currently tied for No. 73 in the nation. Last year's freshman sensation, sophomore Thea Ivanisevic is currently tied for No. 79 in the nation.

The Terps continued their youth movement during the off season by bringing in three freshman to go along with the three sophomores and one senior that return to the team. Freshmen Lorraine Bittles, Rachael McArdle, and Stacy Walkowitz hope to match up to the performance of last year's freshman class. That class included Thea Ivanisevic; who played at the no. 1 spot for the Terps and was named to the All-ACC Team; Meg Griffin, who played at the no. 3 spot; and Adrienne Pavelko, who played at the no. 4 spot.

About The Rams

Virginia Commonwealth began its season at home last weekend, losing their match to James Madison, 6-3. Junior Sofia Hiort beat James Madison's Tory Schroeder in a battle of #1 seeded players by a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

1996 saw the Rams go 14-4. The Rams declined an ivitation to be the fourth seed in the Eastern Regionals of the NCAA Tournament.

Hiort is fifth on the Rams' all-time victory list for women's tennis.

Find out more about Terp tennis...visit Maryland's home page at www.umterps.com

Find Terps tennis on the Crestar Terp Phone by calling (301) 314-TERP

University  Of Maryland  Terrapins
YEAR     NAME                   RECORD          HOMETOWN/HIGH SCHOOL
FR       Lorraine Bittles       2 - 0           Nashville, TN/ Brentwood Academy
SO       Meg Griffin            2 - 0           Topeka, KS/ Topeka West
SR       Liz Henkin             1 - 0           Bethesda, MD/ Walt Whitman
SO       Thea Ivanisevic        2 - 0           Claro, Switzerland/ Bradenton Academy
FR       Rachael McArdle        1 - 0           London, England/ Bradenton  Academy
SO       Adrienne Pavelko       2 - 0           Vienna, VA/ O' Connell
FR       Stacy Walkowitz        2 - 0           Coral Springs, FL/ Coral Springs
Head Coach: Jim Laitta (7th Year)
Assistant Coach: Dana Evans
Virginia Commonwealth Universiy Rams
YR  NAME                        RECORD          HOMETOWN
JR  Sofia Hiort                 1 - 0           Upsala, Sweden
FR  Wendy Hsu                   0 - 1           Newport News, VA
JR  Helena Karlsson             0 - 1           Ostersund, Sweden
FR  Kathryn Olsen               1 - 0           Melbourne, Australia
FR  Greta Petrovic              0 - 1           Richmond, Australia 
FR  Sira Thayaprasat            0 - 1           Woodbridge, VA
Head Coach:  Eva Bard 

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