Clemson women's tennis opens season ranked No. 14 nationally

The Clemson women's tennis team has earned a No. 14 preseason ranking from the ITA. The Tigers’ dual-match season will get underway later this month.

Clemson reached the NCAA Sweet 16 a season ago, going 21-11, falling to eventual National Champion Florida at Stanford, CA.

Josipa Bek was named a singles and doubles All-American, and an All-ACC selection last season. She and Keri Wong open the 2012 season ranked 8th in the country in doubles, after spending the preseason ranked No. 1 nationally. The duo went 9-3 in the fall, and both moved past 100 career doubles wins.

Sophomore Klara Vyskocilova enters the season as Clemson’s highest-ranked singles player, coming in at 58th nationally. Wong ranks 65th in the nation, and Nelly Ciolkowski, who had an outstanding off-season of competition around the world, opens at 67th.

Bek, who was ranked 8th in the fall, is unranked in singles for the first time in her career despite her six All-America honors, two region singles championships, and 96-38 career record. She played in just one singles tournament in the fall.

Regionally, Clemson has three singles players ranked, with Ciolkowski (3rd) leading the group and Wong (11th) and Bek (12th) trailing. In doubles, Bek and Wong hold down the top spot in the region in doubles.

Clemson opens its spring season Jan. 20 at home against Florida International.

Clemson is one of seven ACC teams ranked among the top 17 nationally, and all 12 ACC teams are listed among the top 62.

The 75-team rankings include No. 3 Duke, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 9 Virginia, No. 11 Miami, No. 13 Georgia Tech, No. 14 Clemson and No. 17 Florida State. In addition, NC State earned a No. 34 preseason ranking, while Maryland is at No. 40, Boston College at No. 45, Virginia Tech at No. 60 and Wake Forest at No. 62.

Twenty-six ACC student-athletes are ranked among the top 125 singles players, led by Duke freshman Beatrice Capra at No. 7. Others among the top 30 include Miami’s Anna Bartenstein (No. 15), North Carolina’s Lauren McHale (No. 16), Maryland’s Cristina Stancu (No. 28) and the Virginia duo of Emily Fraser (No. 29) and Lindsey Hardenbergh (No. 30).

Twelve ACC doubles teams earned spots among the top 60, including Duke’s Capra and Ester Goldfeld (No. 7), Clemson’s Wong and Bek (No. 8), Boston College’s Alex Kelleher and Olga Khmylev (No. 11) and Wake Forest’s Kathryn Talbert and Kayla Duncan (No. 20).