Megan Bradley Named ITA Senior Player of the Year
May 22, 2005
ATHENS, Ga. – University of Miami’s Megan Bradley was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Senior Player of the Year it was announced Sunday evening at a banquet at the University of Georgia’s Rankin Smith Academic Center prior to the start of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship that begins Monday, May 23rd and runs through May 28th.
Bradley has been dominating in her final season. Ranked No. 1 throughout the spring, she carries a 38-match win streak into tomorrow’s NCAA singles tournament and has a 43-1 record overall. Last November she captured the singles title at the ITA National Indoor Championships. The Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, she is also ranked No. 3 in the country in doubles with sophomore Audrey Banada.
Top seeded Bradley will face Nebraska’s Gitte Ostermann in the First Round of the NCAA singles tournament Monday at 10:00 a.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
Ostermann the Husker’s No. 1 player holds a 26-5 overall record and was ranked 43rd in the May 2nd ITA singles rankings. She reached the quarterfinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships and claimed the Wilson/ITA Central Region title.
The top eight seeded players in singles include second seeded Julie Coin of Clemson, followed by Northwestern’s Audra Cohen and Kentucky’s Aibika Kabarieva as the third and fourth seed, respectively. Florida’s Jennifer Magley is seeded fifth and Alabama’s Robin Stephenson is sixth. Stanford’s Amber Liu, the two-time defending national champion, is seeded seventh followed by California’s Suzi Babos who rounds out the top eight.
Bradley and Banada are seeded third in the doubles tournament, which begins with the Round of the 32 at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 24th. The duo will face Kentucky’s Kim Coventry and Joelle Schewnk who are ranked 22nd in the country. Miami’s top tandem posted a 16-1 record in dual-match play and are 25-2 overall.
The top seeded doubles teams include Georgia’s Caroline Basu/Shadisha Robinson as the No. 1 seeded pair followed by Audra Cohen and Cristelle Grier of Northwestern. UCLA’s Daniella Bercek and Riza Zalameda are seeded fourth behind Bradley and Banada.
