CALIFORNIA (May 17) – The No. 26 California University of Pennsylvania tennis team will compete in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament for the 10th-straight year on Wednesday, May 18. The Vulcans will face Lone Star Conference (LSC) Champion and No. 15 Cameron (Okla.) in Denver, Colorado.
NCAA Tournament: The Vulcans earned the top seed in the Atlantic Region and advanced to the Round of 16 with a first-round bye and a 5-0 win over West Virginia State. Cameron claimed a 5-2 victory Midwestern State (Texas), who defeated Cal U in last year's Round of 16, after being the second seed in the South Central Region. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and face the winner of No. 11 Northeastern State (Okla.)-No. 7 Hawaii Pacific.
National Rankings: Cal U and Cameron are each ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings. The Aggies climbed two spots in the latest rankings to No. 15, while the Vulcans dropped eight positions to No. 26.
In singles, Cameron is headlined by junior Paula Gutierrez, who is ranked No. 18 in the country and is the two-time LSC Player of the Year. Freshman Zhenia Shviadok, the LSC Freshman of the Year, and senior Alina Gorina, the LSC Newcomer of the Year following a transfer from Central Oklahoma, jumped to No. 15 in the country in doubles after being unranked in the previous rankings.
Cal U sophomore
Lena Dimmer is slotted No. 30 and is one of only two players from the Atlantic Region to be ranked among the top-50 players in the country. Dimmer and senior
Kiefer Shaw have been nationally-ranked in doubles all spring and sit No. 16 in the latest rankings.
Scouting the Vulcans: Cal U enters the Round of 16 having won 17 of its last 18 matches with its only loss coming against NCAA Division I Duquesne on April 17. Dimmer leads the team with a career-high 21 victories behind a 13-4 mark in dual play with 11 wins at the second position. Junior
Veronika Mikulis has registered 19 victories this year while splitting time at the third and fourth slots. Newcomers
Holly Bennett and
Jasi Witherspoon, a transfer from Barry (Fla.), have each tallied 16 wins in singles play.
Dimmer and Shaw have posted a 21-4 record in doubles play, highlighted by three wins over nationally-ranked tandems, and have lost only twice in dual play this year. Bennett and Witherspoon have recorded 14 wins since becoming a doubles team during the spring, while Mikulis and junior
Alyssa Savill, a transfer from Lander (S.C.), have posted a 15-4 record this year.
Vulcans in the NCAA Tournament: Cal U has posted a 21-8 record in the NCAA Tournament since 2008 and has advanced to the quarterfinals seven times of the previous nine years, including six straight from 2009-14.
Scouting the Aggies: Cameron enters play with a 22-3 overall record and has won 13 of its last 14 matches. Shviadok leads five Aggies with at least 20 wins, as she has compiled a 23-4 mark while primarily playing the third position. Gutierrez holds a 21-4 record this year with 16 wins at first singles and has posted four victories over nationally-ranked players. The trio of sophomore Mathilde Thibaudat, senior Angie Torres and junior Samantha Wood have each posted 20 wins while playing throughout the bottom half of the lineup. Meanwhile, Gorina has won eight of her last nine matches to stand at 19-5 this season with each victory coming in dual play.
Gorina and Shviadok lead the team with a 20-4 record in doubles play, all at the first position, and enter play on a 13-match winning streak that dates back to March 31. Gutierrez and Thibaudat hold a 15-4 mark as the third doubles team and the duo of Torres and Wood stand at 13-6 this year with 11 victories at the second slot.
Aggies in the NCAA Tournament: Cameron made its first NCAA Tournament this year since 2014 after advancing to the Round of 16 in both 2011 and 2012.
Last Meeting: The Vulcans and Aggies are meeting in the NCAA Tournament for the second time, as the programs previously played in the Round of 16 in 2012. Cal U claimed a 5-2 victory after taking two of the three doubles matches (first, third slots). The Vulcans sealed the match by winning three singles matches at the second, fifth and sixth positions.
Head Coaches: Pablo Montana is in his 14th season as head coach at Cal U. The two-time ITA National Coach of the Year, he has posted an overall record of 276-82 in dual matches and was selected the PSAC West Coach of the Year for the fifth time in six years two weeks ago.
James Helvey is in his 15th season as head coach at Cameron and also has served as the men's tennis head coach of the Aggies for two-plus decades. He has led the women's program to 12 winnings seasons and nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to Round of 16 twice.
Looking Ahead: The advancing team will face the winner of Northeastern State-Hawaii Pacific match in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, May 19, at 11 a.m.
