Terps End Season Ranked No. 34 in ITA
6/1/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
June 1, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
After capping off a surprising run this season, the University of Maryland women's tennis team finished the year ranked 34th in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, its best finish since the rankings expanded to include the top 50 in 1993.
Second-year head coach Howard Joffe guided the Terps to a 13-10 record in 2011 and the sixth NCAA tournament appearance in Maryland history. The team's 13 wins also rank fourth all-time on the season win totals.
Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar firmly established herself as one of the top athletes in program history in just her first year at Maryland. The junior from Campo de Criptana, Spain rolled off 14 straight singles and 13 doubles wins to begin her career and ended the season with the program's first NCAA Singles Championship Round of 32 appearance. In between Sanchez-Quintanar earned ACC Women's Tennis Player of the Week honors (March 25), an All-ACC selection, and was named the 2011 Atlantic Region Player to Watch.
Sanchez-Quintanar also capped off an impressive doubles run with freshman Jordaan Sanford. The duo upset the No. 1 team in the nation April 3, with an 8-5 win over Clemson's Josipa Bek and Keri Wong. Sanford and Sanchez-Quintanar fell in the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championship to 12th-ranked Linda Abu Meshrefova and Nida Hamilton of Northwestern 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Overall, the 2011 Terrapins proved themselves a force to be reckoned with in the future both in the ACC and nationally. A young and talented team, Maryland returns five of six starters for the 2011-2012 campaign including Sanchez-Quintanar, Sanford, Ana Belzunce, Welma Luus, and Cristina Stancu.
The Terps do say goodbye to senior Julia Huschke who compiled 41 doubles wins in her career and enjoyed the biggest singles win of her career this season. Huschke knocked off Georgia Tech's Elizabeth Kilborn 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 singles to force a 3-3 tie in the Terps win over the No. 11 Yellow Jackets on April 1.
Note: Final individual singles and doubles rankings will be posted June 8 on the ITA website.
Players Mentioned
