South Carolina State junior Maria Craciun became the first women's tennis player in MEAC and school history, to qualify for the NCAA Individual Singles Championship announced Wednesday.
"I feel honored to have been selected to play in the Women's Tennis Championship", said Craciun. "I know that no other tennis player in school history has ever been selected to participate in this event before, so it is my responsibility to prepare as well as possible, because I'm representing myself, my team and the university."
Craciun, a native of Pitesi, Romania was one of 64 single players selected throughout the country by the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Subcommittee that will compete in the 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships. The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 23-28 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., following the conclusion of the team championship (May 17-22).
The automatic qualification into the Division I singles championships was 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 a minimum of 13 completed singles matches in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
SC State head coach Hardeep Judge stated, "To be the first player in MEAC history to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship against the top 64 players in the country is a great honor for her and the university."
The lone junior has built a stellar career as a Lady Bulldog leading SC State to three consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships, while amassing a 44-6 singles (14-0 MEAC) and 41-3 doubles record in three seasons.
Meanwhile, South Carolina State made an historic run this season finishing with a 19-0 record, the first in school history along with capturing its eight straight league title and remained undefeated in league play. Craciun and teammates, senior Suhaila Jad, Sabrina Mendez and sophomore AKilah James were the only players in the conference to be nationally-ranked by the ITA (International Tennis Association).
An All-MEAC and All-Tournament performer throughout her career, Craciun will be looking to be the second women's tennis player in school history to lead her team to four straight conference championships. Last season former Lady Bulldog standout and 2011 MEAC Women's Player of the Year Daria Sekerina became the first female to reach that achievement.
"Maria is not only an outstanding tennis player she is a great person," said Judge. "Over the past three years she has been a consistent performer on and off the court, a coach can only wish that he had a whole team of players like her."
SINGLES
Automatic qualifications (14), listed alphabetically by conference:
Atlantic Coast Beatrice Capra Duke
Big East Shannon Mathews Notre Dame
Big Ten Emina Bektas Michigan
Big 12 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar Texas A&M
Big West Anais Dallara Long Beach State
Colonial Abigail Tere-Apisah Georgia State
Conference USA Courtney Collins Memphis
*Mid-Eastern Maria Craciun South Carolina State
Midwest Lucia Batta UNLV
Missouri Valley Lutfiana Budiharto Wichita State
Pacific-12 Nicole Gibbs Stanford
SEC Allie Will Florida
West Coast Katie Le Santa Clara
WAC Marianne Jodoin Fresno State