Thursday, 05/03/2012

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The William and Mary women's tennis doubles team of sophomores Maria Belaya and Jeltje Loomans garnered a bid to the 2012 NCAA Doubles Championships, the Division I Women's Tennis Subcommittee announced on Wednesday. The doubles pair was the CAA automatic selection to the doubles championship and was ranked No. 30 nationally in the latest standings released on April 24. The University of Georgia will host the NCAA Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., as the individual championships will be held May 23-28.

Belaya and Loomans become the 19th different Tribe doubles team on the 22nd occasion to earn a spot in the NCAA Doubles Championship. In 24 of the last 27 years, the Green and Gold have had at least one representative in the NCAA Individual Championships. Loomans will compete in her second NCAA Championship after taking part in the singles draw last season, while Belaya becomes the 31st different W&M player to compete at the event.

Automatic qualification into the 32-team Division I doubles championships 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 a minimum of 10 completed doubles matches in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection. All matches will be the best of three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six games all will be used for all matches. The official brackets for the doubles championship will be released closer to the start of the event.

Belaya and Loomans are riding a 13-match winning streak entering the NCAA Championship and own a 20-5 overall mark. All five setbacks came to teams currently ranked in the Campbell's ITA National Rankings, while the duo owns four wins over teams in the top 35. On five occasions this season, the Tribe pair was named the CAA Doubles Team of the Week on the way to First-Team All-CAA honors in pair's competition. Belaya and Loomans have been ranked nationally in each of the last six polls, including a season-high No. 20 in the country on March 27.