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YSU to face No. 1 USC in regional
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown State women’s tennis team will need to bring its A game — and its sunscreen — for the NCAA regionals.
The Penguins will play Southern California, the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, in the first round on May 9 in Los Angeles.
“It was a surprise,” Penguins coach Mickael Sopel. “A good one.”
It’s the second straight NCAA tournament berth for the Penguins (17-8), who lost in the first round of last year’s tournament. YSU earned its first Horizon League regular season title this year before capturing its second straight conference tournament crown.
“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also a confirmation of the hard work the girls have been putting into practice and into the program,” Sopel said.
Senior Marta Burak, the conference player of the year, joined the program in 2012 as a 15-year-old freshman from Ukraine. The Penguins went 1-17 that season, but rebounded to make the Horizon League tournament championship each of the last three years. Burak has lost just one conference game in four years — it came as a freshman — and has been a huge part of the team’s emergence, Sopel said.
“It’s been really, really big to have her,” said Sopel, the Horizon League coach of the year. “She’s a huge example for the other girls to follow, although she’s going to be hard to follow after what she’s done.
“She’s been a great leader. She’s a big part of what we became and what we are today.”
YSU lost to third-seeded Virginia 4-0 in last year’s opening round, which was the Penguins’ first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Although the Penguins won just one set — Nehel Sahni bested Maci Epstein 6-4 and was trailing just 4-3 in the second set when the match ended — they were competitive in most of the matches.
Burak believes that experience will help next weekend.
“Now we know what to expect,” said Burak, who lost her first set last year 6-3 and was trailing 2-1 in the second when the match ended. “I think it makes us more confident.”
Added Sopel: “It’s always difficult the first time you go into a tournament like that — the Big Dance, like the coaches say — and obviously last year’s experience is going to be important. I think the girls are ready and they know they can compete at that level.”
This will be YSU’s second trip to Southern California this season, having played UC Riverside, Cal-State Northridge and Gonzaga at Orange Coast College from March 9-11. When the Penguins’ opponent was announced at Tuesday’s selection show, the team was clearly delighted.
“It’s always a fun trip,” Sopel said.
USC (21-2) will host the first two rounds, with YSU and the Horizon League covering the travel costs. (The NCAA doesn’t cover any expenses until the championship rounds.) The USC-YSU winner will meet the winner of Virginia Tech and Long Beach State in the second round. That winner will join 15 other regional champions in the NCAA championship round May 15-19 in Waco, Texas.