Neely and Simova Chosen for NCAA Doubles Championships
May 04, 2021 | Women's Tennis
The pair is ranked No. 15 in the nation
The University of Louisville doubles pair of Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova were among the 32 doubles teams that the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Subcommittee has selected to compete in the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships. In addition, there were 64 singles players chosen.
"I am extremely happy for Raven and Tati. Raven is what I want our program to be about as far as development," said Mark Beckham, UofL coach. "Tatiana has a lot more time with us, so this is just the beginning for her. I am proud of both of them. This is a huge accomplishment. They aren't satisfied , they want to go do damage in that tournament."Â
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 23-28 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, after the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 16-22. The University of Central Florida and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission will serve as hosts.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a 7-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
Neely and Simova are currently ranked No. 15 in the nation and have posted an 11-5 record together this year. They are the first pair to advance to the tournament since the Cardinal duo of Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine went in 2014.
Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championship 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 results for a minimum of six matches in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
Automatic qualification into the Division I doubles championship 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 completed a minimum of four matches in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.Â
Players Mentioned
