Yuliya Lysa Selected For NCAA Tournament
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas women’s tennis junior Yuliya Lysa earned an at-large singles bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis championships, which will be held May 20-25 at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, for the first time in her career. The announcement comes one day after the No. 42 Razorbacks received an at-large bid to the NCAA team tournament.
“We have had plenty of gamechangers that contributed to our success this season but none more valuable than Yuliya,” said head coach Michael Hegarty. “To come in and play at the top of the lineup right away in the SEC successfully is a fabulous achievement. I am confident Yuliya will play her best tennis when she gets down to Waco. Hopefully the whole team can join her there with a strong showing in Stillwater.”
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted following the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 15-19. Baylor University will serve as host. 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.
Lysa’s selection to the singles competition is the 12th time in program history a singles player has competed in the postseason. The No. 35 doubles tandem of Lysa and sophomore Shannon Hudson was also selected as an alternate team (second alternates) for the 2015 NCAA doubles competition.
“Shannon and Yuliya had a great regular season at No. 1 doubles for us,” Hegarty said. “As the No. 2 alternates they have a great chance of making the final draw once the team event is completed.”
The Kiev, Ukraine native and No. 48 ranked player in the country earned All-SEC honors in her first year on the U of A campus thanks to a 19-9 overall record and a 12-8 record in the top singles slot. Playing in the highly-competitive No. 1 slot for the majority of her junior year, Lysa has been providing some valuable support for the Razorbacks and has defeated five nationally-ranked players on the season.
For more information on Arkansas women’s tennis, follow @RazorbackWTEN on Twitter.
NCAA TOURNAMENT INFO
Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championships is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125 for eligible/entered singles players.
For conferences with more than one singles player within the ITA Top 125 eligible/entered singles players, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which student-athlete is the automatic qualifier from those conferences.
All singles players must have a minimum of 13 completed singles matches, with six matches in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
Automatic qualification into the Division I doubles championships is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible doubles teams ranked in the ITA Top 60 for eligible/entered doubles teams.
For conferences with more than one doubles team within the ITA Top 60 eligible/entered doubles teams, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which doubles team is the automatic qualifier from those conferences.
All doubles teams must have started a minimum of 10 doubles matches, eight must be completed, with four of the eight matches completed in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
