__Armed with an extra year of eligibility, senior Megan Moulton-Levy leads Tribe tennis into another season, starting this weekend at the W&M Invite__
The College women’s tennis team will open up its fall 2007 season by hosting the 15th annual William and Mary Invitational this weekend, Friday through Sunday at the Busch Courts, McCormick-Nagelsen Tennis Center, the Recreational Courts and the Kiwanis Courts. The team will host 13 other schools, including Duke University, Princeton University and Michigan State University. There will be six singles brackets and four doubles brackets.
The tournament kicks off what promises to be a rigorous 2007-2008 schedule.
p. They will be playing at the end of September at the University of Virginia Fall Invitational in Charlottesville, as well as multiple tournaments throughout October, including the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships and the Wildcat Invitational at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. During the winter season the Tribe will travel to many different tournaments, including the prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, Feb. 8-11, in Madison, Wisc. The team will participate in the CAA Championship April 17 to 20 in Newport News, Va. The NCAA Regional tournament take place May 9 to 10, and the NCAA Championships run May 16 to 26.
p. The Tribe hopes to improve upon last season’s success, which saw the doubles team of senior Megan Moulton-Levy and junior Katarina Zoricic (final record of 44-4) capture the ITA National Indoor championship crown, in addition to the team claiming its 19th CAA championship in the spring and making it to the round of 16 in May’s NCAA championship tournament. The 2006-2007 record for the Tribe women’s team was 22-3, having opened the season with 11 straight wins, the best start to a season in the history of the College. The final national rank for the team was 15th, a jump of 12 spots from the 27th-place final ranking the year before.
p. The Tribe received a major boost this offseason with the news that Moulton-Levy would be granted another year of eligibility. The anchor of last season’s team, Moulton-Levy was a mainstay in both the top 10 of the national singles and doubles rankings (she and Zoricic held the no. 1 spot in doubles for much of the year), and will now get to lead a talent-laden squad on another title run.
p. Another bright spot for the Tribe this season is sophomore Ragini Acharya, who won the ITA Summer National singles tournament in August. By winning this title, Acharya also earns a wild card entry into the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships. Acharya finished her freshman season at the College with a record of 32-5. She was first team all-CAA and VaSID all-State and was also honored as rookie of the year by the two organizations.
p. __Flat Hat Sports Editor Jeff Dooley contributed to this report.__
