May 19, 2002

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest women¡¦s tennis players Bea Bielik and Janet Bergman will begin their quests for NCAA singles and doubles titles with first-round matches in both on Monday in Stanford, Calif.

Bielik, a junior from Valley Stream, N.Y. earned the No. 1 seed in the singles bracket and will face Harvard¡¦s Susanna Lingman in a 1:30 p.m. (PDT) match Monday. Bielik advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship last season, the best performance ever by a Demon Deacon. The 2002 ACC Player of the Year, she enters the singles championship with a 29-2 record this season.

Bergman, a senior, becomes just the second player in WFU history to make four appearances in the NCAA singles championship. She is looking to advance beyond the second round for the first time, as she fell to eventual national champion, Stanford¡¦s Laura Granville, in the first round last season. On Monday, Bergman will play Kavitha Krishnamurthy of Princeton in a 1:30 p.m. match.

Bergman and Bielik will also team up in the NCAA doubles championship as the No. 2 seed in the 32-team bracket. First-round action begins on Tuesday, May 21 with a 3:00 p.m. match versus Katie Cunha and Linsey Green of Notre Dame. The Deacon duo is making their third appearance in NCAA doubles after advancing to the quarterfinals the last two seasons. The tandem also needs just two more victories to set the school¡¦s single-season record for doubles wins (33).