WATCH: Katie Le's NCAA Journey
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (ATHENS, Georgia) – No. 31 Katie Le of the Santa Clara women's tennis team will face No. 14 Olivia Janowicz of the University of Florida on Wednesday, May 21 at 9:30 a.m. PDT in the first round of the NCAA Division I Singles Championships at the University of Georgia. Viewers can live stream Le's match online at the NCAA Championships Central website.
"I don't know very much about my opponent from Florida, but I know that every player here plays at a high level," Le said. "I am expecting a tough match every round of this tournament and have been preparing the last two days here to adjust to the courts and conditions. I feel ready and am very excited to be going into my last NCAA tournament here in Georgia."
Janowicz competed in the NCAA Team Championships earlier last week where her No. 8 Florida Gators fell in the semifinals to the eventual champion, No. 3 UCLA. In her senior season, Janowicz boasts a 34-9 overall record, going 14-5 in duals. Janowicz sits at the No. 14 spot in the ITA rankings and most recently fell 6-1, 6-2 to No. 15 Silvia Garcia of Georgia on May 17. She splits her time between the No. 1 and 2 singles positions for Florida and tallied a 10-6 record against ranked opponents this 2013-14 season.
Singles competition will be conducted May 21-26 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Geo., following the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 15-20. All matches shall be the best of three sets with regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six games.
This will be Le's third consecutive trip to the NCAA Singles Championships as an At-Large selection—she is the only tennis player in Santa Clara program history to accomplish this feat.
For her first experience in postseason play, the then-sophomore pushed her first round opponent to a third set with a thrilling second-set victory, but couldn't hold on and lost 6-7(4), 7-5 and 0-6 to No. 37 Abigail Tere-Apisah of Georgia State.
Her second go at the Championship in the spring of 2013 gave Le Santa Clara's first-ever individual win in the tournament. The then-junior topped No. 30 Emina Bektas of No. 10 Michigan 7-6(3), 7-5 in the first round. Le then fell in the second round to the No. 3 seed Robin Anderson of No. 7 UCLA, 7-6(1), 6-2 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.
For the 2013-14 season, the Santa Clara senior boasts a 28-5 overall record while going 17-2 in dual matches. Le stands atop the all-time leaderboard at 103 career singles wins with each individual season record in the top 10. Her longest winning streak spanned 13 in a row while going 2-2 against fellow ranked opponents and only being pushed to a third set five times since September.
A great season highlight came when the Milpitas, Calif. native impressively upset then-No. 19 Lorraine Guillermo on March 22. Le took the first set from her Pepperdine opponent in hard-working fashion, 7-5. The Bronco senior held on strong to close out the match in a commanding second set, 6-4.
Le has been recognized by the WCC for her outstanding play each of her four years of being a Bronco. She holds the title of the 2011 WCC Freshman of the Year and the 2012 WCC Player of the Year along with either First or Second-Team honors in singles every year as a Bronco. Most recently, Le was named to the No. 1 doubles All-Tournament Team with her partner Chelby Cooke.
The West Coast Conference is also sending Saint Mary's Jenny Jullien and Pepperdine's Lorranine Guillermo to the NCAA Singles Championship.
GO BRONCOS!
