Fresno State tennis: Sophie Watts opens Wednesday at NCAA Tournament

Fresno State junior Sophie Watts will make her first appearance in the NCAA Championship tennis tournament when she takes on No. 36 Romy Köelzer of Clemson in Wednesday’s opening round in Waco, Texas.

Match time is 9 a.m. PDT at Hurd Tennis Center on the campus of Baylor University.

Watts, one win away from a spot on the school’s top-10 list in career singles wins, is ranked No. 85 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

An opening-round win would send her against No. 2 Carol Zhao (Stanford) or No. 48 Paige Hourigan (Georgia Tech). Zhao reached the Round of 16 a year ago.

“Everyone is good here as it’s the best of the best so Sophie just needs to play it one match at a time and play fearless as she always does,” coach Ryan Stotland said. “She is playing well enough right now to beat anyone.”

Watts is 33-5 in singles, including 21-0 in dual matches, and has won 22 straight overall. She was named Mountain West Player of the Year and was selected to the conferences All-Singles and Doubles teams. It was her second-career selection to both of the postseason conference teams.

Köelzer of Betzdorf, Germany, is 20-12.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Fresno State tennis: Sophie Watts opens Wednesday at NCAA Tournament."