May 19, 2011
BERKELEY - California women's tennis senior Mari Andersson and junior Jana Juricova were announced as the 2011 Pacific-10 Conference Doubles Team of the Year on Wed., May 18. The two Golden Bears are the second Cal duo to win the award; Susie Babos and Zsuzsanna Fodor received the same honor in 2007. Juricova received her third selection to the All-Pac-10 first team, and Andersson was awarded second-team honors for the third time in her career.
As a duo, the top-ranked team of Andersson and Juricova has amassed an incredible 38 victories together this season. The pair went 18-4 in dual matches and capped off a solid run at the Pac-10 Championships with a three-set win over USC's fifth-ranked team of Kaitlyn Christian and Maria Sanchez to capture Cal's seventh Pac-10 doubles title.
The tandem earned 17 wins over ranked doubles opponents this year and all but one of its six losses came at the hands of teams ranked in the top 20. Andersson and Juricova hold the top seed in this year's NCAA doubles championships and look to repeat 2009's championship run.
Andersson and Juricova's all-conference selections push Cal's total to 45 certificates. Bears have been first-team honorees 25 times, and second-team honorees 20 times. Cal players have also received all-conference honorable mention on 17 occasions.
As the top-ranked singles player in the nation, Juricova now joins Karen Shin, Pam Nelson, head coach Amanda Augustus, and Susie Babos, as the only players in Cal history to receive three All-Pac-10 first-team selections. She has posted 20 consecutive victories to-date, and has not lost a singles match in duals this spring. Juricova is 30-3 this season and two of her three losses were in ITA championship matches to players ranked Nos. 2 and 3 at the time. She will carry the top seed into the NCAA singles championship where she was the runner-up to Georgia's Chelsey Gullickson one year ago.
No. 23-ranked Andersson received her third selection to the second team in as many years. The 2009 ITA West Region Player to Watch has put together 27 singles wins this year and is 18-5 in dual singles matches. She received her second-career Pac-10 Player of the Week award earlier this season and will compete in the NCAA singles championship.
The ninth-seeded Bears (18-6) will face eighth-seeded Georgia (18-4) in the round of 16 of the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships at 6 p.m. PT on Fri., May 20, at the Taube Family Tennis Center. Cal was eliminated in the round of 16 a year ago after two consecutive trips to the national title match. The Bears hosted and defeated Boston University and conference rival USC in first- and second-round matches at Hellman Tennis Complex last weekend. Play continues on the campus of championship host Stanford, this week. Please visit www.GoStanford.com for more information, live stats, and streaming video.
2011 PACIFIC-10 WOMEN'S TENNIS ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
First Team
Kristie Ahn, STAN
Hilary Barte, STAN
Denise Dy, WASH
Jana Juricova, CAL
Kelcy McKenna, ASU
Maria Sanchez, USC
Second Team
Mari Andersson, CAL
Mallory Burdette, STAN
Jacqueline Cako, ASU
Venise Chan, WASH
Nicole Gibbs, STAN
Danielle Lao, USC
Honorable Mention
Noelle Hickey, UCLA
Andrea Remynse, UCLA
Pavlina Smatova, ORE
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Maria Sanchez, USC
COACH OF THE YEAR: Lele Forood, Stanford
FRESHMAN/NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Kristie Ahn, Stanford
DOUBLES TEAM OF THE YEAR: Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova, California
