April 18, 2012

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ACC Championships Central | ACC Women's Tennis Release

CARY, N.C. - The Maryland women's tennis team travels to Cary Tennis Park to compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Tennis Championship beginning Thursday. The Terps are the 11th seed and begin the four-day tournament against sixth-seeded Georgia Tech at 3 p.m.

The Terps
The Yellow Jackets defeated the Terps (7-14, 1-10 ACC), 5-2, in College Park during the regular season.

Sophomore Cristina Stancu enters the tournament ranked 26th nationally in singles. Stancu is 14-7 this season and went 8-3 in ACC action. In the spring, Stancu tallied four wins over ranked opponents including victories over No. 16 Anna Bartenstein of Miami and No. 21 Emily Fraser of Virginia.

In last year's tournament matchup with Georgia Tech, junior Ana Belzunce was the only current Terp to register a singles victory. Belzunce is 12-9 this spring and enters the weekend coming off a victory over then-No. 91 Ester Goldfeld of Duke.

In doubles, Belzunce and sophomore Welma Luus climbed to No. 20 in this week's ITA Rankings after upsetting then-No. 2 Shinann Featherston and Lauren McHale of North Carolina on Saturday. The tandem is 6-5 against nationally ranked opponents this spring and has defeated two teams currently in the top 10.

Maryland at the ACC Championships
The Terps lost to Georgia Tech in the opening round last season. All-time, Maryland is 4-3 against the Yellow Jackets in tournament competition.

With a win, the Terps advance to play third-seeded Miami. Maryland has never faced the Hurricanes in the tournament.

In the ACC Tournament, the Terps are 7-30 all-time. Maryland's last win came in 2004 against NC State.

In 1981, Wendy Fine became the only Terrapin to win ACC Tournament MVP honors.

Live Coverage
Live scoring updates will be available through the TheACC.com, as well as a tape-delay webcast starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

On Twitter, follow @theaccchamps for live updates.

- Terps -