By Molly Vincent| For the first time in program history, the Pilots Women’s tennis team are ITA ranked. They now clock in at No. 48.
Placing No. 67 last week, Portland made the second largest advance in the nation in this week’s ITA Women’s Team Rankings.
The Pilots have won their past five matches against Boise State, No. 51 USF, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and St. Mary’s.
On Sunday, the Pilots dominated Pacific 7-0. Pacific is nationally ranked for the second year in a row.
The Pilots’ reign was bolstered by unprecedented wins over UC Davis, Boise State and Oregon. The Pilots also beat USF for the first time in nearly eight years.
Head coach Susie Campbell-Gross and assistant coach Filip Zivkovic say heavy training and a new outlook on the game has helped the players.
“The reality is that we’ve been working with this group for the last three years to get to this point,” Zivkovic said. “They’ve become more professional as we started beating ranked teams. It seems everyone got a confidence boost.”
The coaches predict the new ranking will attract talented players to the program.
When recruiting players, the coaches look for three important qualities: results, rankings and the ability to be academically successful.
“We’ve looked to international players to come in that have had a lot of experience and success and high rankings. We’re able to get those few great players and then more players follow that,” Campbell-Gross said.
The coaches plan to build a team with international players as well “five star” and “blue chip” recruits.
Blue chips are the highest level American athletes, and tennis only sees about 20 every generation. Five-star recruits are a step down from blue chips.
Being ranked helps coaches get better players to continue the cycle of winning and improving the team’s ranking.
Sophomore Lucia Butkovska, a Bratislava, Slovakia native, is excited that the team’s hard work and dedication are paying off.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t play last year. (I) wasn’t eligible. I knew it was going to be hard. It clicked this year. The coaches are proud of us. I’m proud of my team,” Butkovska said. “Everyone is working towards one goal to succeed as a team. If one person loses, it doesn’t mean the team loses.”
Junior Tori Troesch says the new rankings give the team the mindset to take on any team.
“It’s actually kind of insane,” Troesch said. “It’s the best that our program has ever done and it’s been fun to be a part of that. And we’re excited to see where we can go, especially after beating St. Mary’s this weekend which is ranked 33 in the nation. That was huge for us, so we’re excited.”
Both Troesch and Butkovska hope to make the bid to the NCAA tournament.
The coaches hope that Butkovska will get to the NCAA tournament because of her nationally ranked singles status. The top 60 ranked players advance to the tournament.
The team is ascending quickly through rankings, and Campbell-Gross believes the players can build on their success.
“It feels rewarding but not satisfying- yet. We feel as though we can accomplish more,” said Campbell-Gross. “There’s more to do.”
Molly Vincent is a sports reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at vincentm17@up.edu or on Twitter @mollyvincent19
