Scoring and Rules
5/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Scoring and Rules
THE BASICS OF COLLEGIATE TENNIS
The Collegiate Tennis Season
The collegiate tennis season begins in September and lasts through May, culminating with the NCAA Championships, and consists of two distinct formats. The fall season consists entirely of individual play where players compete for tournament championships. These are usually flighted events which group players of similar ability together. Most fall events will have only 3-5 entrants from one team, and at times the squads will be split so that Alabama players might participate in two different events at the same time.
A player’s fall record carries over into the spring and figures into her national ranking, which impacts the selection to the NCAA individual championships held in May. Fall records also figure into the team’s preseason ranking. This is important because preseason rankings determine who will be invited to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Team Indoor Championship, an exclusive event held in early February for the nation’s top 16 preseason teams.
This year, the University of Alabama hosts two fall tournaments, the Roberta Alison Classic, named after the first female varsity athlete at Alabama, and the prestigious ITA South Regionals
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor is a dual-match format, and kicks of the spring season. In a dual match, six players compete in singles, with the top player from each team occupying the No. 1 singles position, and the next best player competing at No. 2 singles, and so forth down to the No. 6 singles slot. Each college match also includes three doubles matches, with the top doubles team for each squad competing at No. 1 doubles, followed by the next best teams competing at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, respectively.
To win the team competition, the Tide must win at least four of the seven possible points allocated for each team match. A team wins one point for each singles match that it wins, for a possible of six points for the six singles matches played. A seventh point is allocated to the team that wins at least two of the thee doubles matches.
In collegiate tennis, those competing in singles play the best two out of three sets with the winner registering one point for her team. To win a set, a player must win six games, and win by two. If the set reaches a 6-6 tie, the players will conclude the set with a tiebreaker, rather than continuing play until one of the players leads by two games.
The doubles match consists of a single set called a pro-set; a pro-set is a single set where the winner must score eight games. Thus, to win the doubles set, the doubles team must win eight games, and again win by two. A tiebreaker is held if the doubles set is tied, 8-8.
The Regional Rankings Casey Angle at the ITA also coordinates the release of regional rankings. The regional chair and his/her coaches’ committee vote upon the top teams and players in their particular region. Jenny Mainz is a member of the five person South Region committee.
Alabama is a member of the South Region in women’s tennis. The South Region is comprised of all Division I teams from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. (The men’s regions are divided differently-by states-with Alabama being a member of Region III.) The breakdown of the other Division I women’s regions include the East, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, West, Southwest and Central.
Alabama in the National Rankings
In 1990, Alabama’s tennis program made major strides when it had its first nationally ranked individual player. Beth Marrow, then a senior, was ranked as high as No. 64 in singles. She finished the year ranked No. 69 in the final poll after posting a 30-17 record. Her twin sister, Rachel, also made Tide tennis history that same year when she teamed with Jane Phillips for Alabama’s first nationally ranked doubles team. The pair was ranked No. 34 in the final doubles rankings of 1990 with a 19-9 record.
The 1992-93 season marked the first in which the Crimson Tide women began a season ranked. The University of Alabama was No. 22 in the ITA preseason rankings and remained in the rankings for most of the year, peaking at No. 19 in late May and ending the year at No. 20 in the final ITA poll.
Alabama broke into the national rankings for the first time in the Spring of 1992 and ended that season ranked No. 25. Titia Wilmink ended the season with a No. 54 singles rank. The most Tide singles players to be ranked simultaneously is three. Wilmink, Amy Mascotti and Jenny Whalen were all ranked in the May 5, 1992 poll and Hilde Otterman, Marouschka van Dijk and Lori Smith were all ranked throughout the 1995 season. In 1997, Amanda Ballinger, Baili Camino and Dominique Glinzler were all ranked during the March 4 rankings.
In 1995, Alabama posted its highest team ranking to date when the Tide, on the strength of wins over then No. 10 Kansas and No. 11 Indiana, weighed in at No. 10 in the March 21 - April 4 rankings.
Baili Camino earned the highest singles ranking in Tide history, breaking into the top-20 at No. 16 for the November 11 ranking period. In September of 2004, Robin Stephenson equaled that mark. Also in September of 2004, Stephenson and doubles teammate Ashley Bentley reached No. 6 in the nation, the highest doubles ranking in Alabama history
Camino ended her second campaign with the Tide’s highest final ranking when she finished the year at No. 18.
In 2001, the Crimson Tide finished the season ranked 26th in the nation. Emmanuelle Berard (No. 40) and Selia Mathew (No. 97) both ended the season ranked in singles. Berard also teamed with Dominique Glinzler for a doubles ranking of 49th.
In 2002, she made another trip to the NCAA Tournament and finished the season ranked 40th in the nation. Senior Weyli Chang and sophomore Millie Begovic finished the season ranked No. 42 in doubles and qualified for the NCAA Doubles Tournament.
Last year, the 2004 Crimson Tide made their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships and sixth overall. The Tide finished the season ranked No. 30. Bentley and Stephenson each played in the main draw of the NCAA’s doubles. Stephenson also played in singles.
The Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame
The Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Williamsburg, Va., on William and Mary’s campus.
Among those likely to be included in that hallowed hall is Roberta Alison Baumgardner. Though the NCAA has reached but 15 plus years of women’s sponsorship, national championships have been held for collegiate women’s players for decades. In 1962 and again in 1963, the women’s national champion was Roberta Alison, an Alabama native. She teamed with Missouri’s Justina Bricka for the 1963 doubles championship as well. Women’s team tennis began in 1975 at Alabama, but Alison, because of her talent, made history by becoming the first female member on the Crimson Tide men’s tennis team. She is a member of the Southern Lawn Tennis and Southern Tennis Hall of Fame.
