ACC Women's Tennis Notes (PDF)
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CARY, N.C. - This week's quick hits heading into the 2011 ACC Championship:
• Maryland (13-8, 3-8 ACC) is set to take on No. 16 Georgia Tech (12-9, 5-6 ACC) Thursday at noon in the opening round of the 2011 ACC Championship. The 10th-seeded Terps and seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets met at the beginning of April when then 28th-ranked Maryland knocked off then No. 11 Georgia Tech 4-3 in Atlanta. The winner of Thursday's match will go on to face second-seeded North Carolina (20-5, 9-2 ACC) at noon Friday in quarterfinal play.
• The Terps, who are ranked No. 32 in the nation, recently wrapped up one of their best seasons in the past decade. Maryland finished a perfect 10-0 in non-conference play while knocking off three ranked opponents. The 13 wins mark the first time the Terps have finished with double-digit victories since 2006. They also upset the No. 11 team in the country twice, downing Georgia Tech April 1, and Virginia March 20. The win over Virginia was the first over a top 15 opponent since an upset of No. 12 Duke on April 10, 2005.
• Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar is having a stellar first season with the Terps. She is currently 24th in the latest ITA singles' rankings, and sits at No. 22 in the ITA doubles rankings with partner Jordaan Sanford. The junior from Campo de Criptana, Spain, has five wins against ranked opponents in singles, and is 16-4 overall. She was the ACC Women's Tennis Player of the Week March 22, the Terps' first since Michal Amir in 2007.
• Five Terps (Sanchez-Quintanar, Sanford, Ana Belzunce, Welma Luus, and Cristina Stancu) boast a more than .500 record in dual singles matches, giving the team a .611 winning percentage in spring singles. Maryland compiled an even better mark in dual doubles at .714, led by Sanchez-Quintanar and Sanford, who finished the regular season 18-3. The duo topped the nation's best doubles tandem at the time, upending Clemson's Josipa Bek and Keri Wong 8-5 on April 3. Maryland has fallen just twice all season when securing the doubles point.
• Second-year head coach Howard Joffe has helped lead the resurgence of the Maryland program this season. Maryland finished the season with seven wins over ranked opponents after going four years without posting one win vs. a top-75 foe. The Terps' No. 24 ranking the week of March 22 was the highest team ranking since before ACC expansion.
• Check out @UMTerps for updates during the Georgia Tech match.
