Sports > May 1, 2008

By L.K. Davey | Staff writer

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams received at-large bids in a 64 team field for the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships. Junior Cory Parr and sophomore Steve Forman were selected from the men’s team to compete in the individual tournaments.

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Junior Sierra Poske returns the ball during a home match this season. Both men’s and women’s teams were invited to the NCAA’s and will begin play May 9 for the women’s team and May 10 for the men. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

The No. 28 ranked men’s team was placed in the group of teams seeded 17-32 and will travel May 10 to Athens, Ga., for their first round match against No. 35 Auburn.

The winner of this match will play the winner of the match between No. 4 Georgia and Radford.

The Tigers enter the tournament with a record of 10-12, but they will prove to be a tough opponent as they feature the No. 27 player in the country in Alexey Tsyrenov as well as No. 87 Tim Puetz.

The Deacons lineup will include No. 46 ranked junior Cory Parr and No. 68 sophomore Steve Forman.

The doubles team of Parr and Forman is ranked No. 7 overall in the country. Both Parr and Forman earned All-ACC honors.

Parr was also selected to be in the draw of 64 players for the NCAA Singles Championship.

The doubles team of Parr and Forman were one of 32 teams selected to take part in the NCAA Doubles championship. They are in the group of teams that is seeded 5-8.

The Deacons ended regular season play with a record of 17-10 (8-5). They finished fourth in the ACC, and defeated Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament before losing to No. 1-ranked Virginia in the semifinals.

The No. 46 ranked women’s tennis team was placed in the group of teams seeded 33-48 and will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., on May 9 to take on No. 17 Arkansas in the first round.

The winner of this match will play the winner of the match between No. 15 UNC-Chapel Hill and South Carolina State.

The Razorbacks will be a difficult test for the Deacs as they boast the No.1-ranked singles player in Aurelija Miseviciute as well as No. 73 Ela Kaluder.

The doubles team of Miseviciute and Kaluder is ranked No. 29.

The Deacons’ lineup will feature No. 67 sophomore Sasha Kulikova. Kulikova was named to the All-ACC team.

Wake finished the regular season with a record of 8-13 overall and 4-8 in the ACC. The Deacs lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament to N.C. State.

They have struggled with injuries towards the end of the year and, as a consequence, have had to drop points before matches even start.

The women’s team is currently in the midst of an eight match losing streak.