May 19, 2015
2015 Tennis Championship Central | Live Scoring | Live Video | NCAA Women’s Singles Bracket | NCAA Women’s Doubles Bracket
Freshman Paige Hourigan and junior Kendal Woodard open up NCAA Championship play on Wednesday and Thursday at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas on the University of Baylor’s campus. Hourigan faces Carol Zhao, the number two overall seed, of Stanford at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the round of 64 in the singles portion. Woodard will then join Hourigan on Thursday in the round of 32 in the doubles bracket and the duo will face Klara Fablicova and Zsofi Susanyi of California on Thursday. Time is yet to be announced.
Live stats are available here and live video can be found here. All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be used for all matches.
Pre-match Reading
Opposites Attract
Hourigan, Woodard Earn Bids to NCAA Championship
Hourigan Impresses in First Season
Hourigan is the #48-ranked singles player in the nation and was an All-ACC Second Team honoree this season. The Turakina, New Zealand, native owns a team best 16-7 dual match singles record and went 8-6 in singles during ACC play. Hourigan played mostly at the number two singles spot, going 14-5, and played on court one for four matches, going 2-2.
Hourigan has captured six wins against ranked opponents, including #25 Erin Routliffe from Alabama and #38 Ester Goldfeld from Duke. She has won 10 out of her past 13 matches. During her freshman campaign, Hourigan has clinched five matches for the Jackets, including a 4-3 upset of #3-seed Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
Woodard, Hourigan a Force in Doubles
Hourigan and Woodard are currently ranked as the #21 doubles duo in the nation. This is the second-straight year Woodard will compete in the doubles portion of the 2015 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship. Last season, Woodard and then-doubles partner were seeded in the tournament and named ITA All-Americans after their 2014 season.
Hourigan and Woodard have been a force on court one for the Jackets this season, going 16-3 in the spring and recording an 8-1 record in conference play. During dual match play, the two are 16-2 and have won 12 out of their past 14 matches. The tandem has defeated six ranked doubles team, including #3 Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies from Clemson and #21 Cassie Mercer and Skylar Morton of Virginia.
11th Tech Doubles Team
Hourigan and Woodard are Tech’s 11th doubles team to earn a bid to the NCAA Doubles Championship. The Yellow Jackets have had a doubles team earn a bid in nine seasons in the past 11 years. Hourigan and Woodard will attempt to win the first NCAA Doubles National Title for the Jackets.
Yellow Jackets in the NCAA Doubles Championship
2005 - & Alison Silverio
2006 - & Lyndsey Shosho
2007 - &
2007 – Alison Silverio &
2008 - &
2009 - &
2009 - &
2010 - & Sasha Kurpina
2012 - &
2014 - &
2015- Paige Hourigan & Kendal Woodard
21st Yellow Jacket in Singles
Freshman Paige Hourigan is the 21st Yellow Jacket to earn a bid to the singles championship and the first since Jillian O’Neill earned one in 2012. The only individual title the Yellow Jackets have won was in 2008 when was crowned the NCAA Singles Champion.
A Look at the Opponents
Hourigan and Woodard will face opponents from the west in the NCAA individual championships. Hourigan is set to face the overall #2 seed sophomore Carol Zhao from Stanford in the round of 64 in the singles portion. Zhao was named the ITA Northwest Regional Player to Watch and was an All-Pac-12 First Team honoree. She won the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championship title in October and went 21-2 in dual matches at the No. 1 spot.
In doubles, Hourigan and Woodard are slated to matchup against Zsofi Susanyi and Klara Fabikova of California, who are a 5-8 seed in the tournament field. Susanyi and Fabikova are the nation’s sixth-ranked doubles team and have a 31-6 overall record. The duo were 13-4 on court two and 5-0 on court one this season.
–TogetherWeSwarm–
