Frogs Win First WAC Tennis Title

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 30)-- The top-seeded TCU women's tennis team notched its first WAC title by defeating the second-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 5-3, in the 2000 WAC Championships at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center on the TCU campus.

TCU, ranked 26th in the nation, captured four singles wins and a doubles contest to secure the victory and conference title.

The Frogs were paced by freshman Dorrit Huppes at the No. 2 singles position. Huppes, ranked 58th in the nation, defeated Tulsa freshman Aleksandra Durska in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Huppes, the WAC Newcomer-of-the-Year and all-WAC in singles and doubles, improved to 30-6 on the season.

TCU's Leoni Weirich, Jessika Kjellgren and Debbie Bell won singles matches at the No. 3, 5 and 6 spots respectively.

Weirich ended the singles competition with a straight set win over Tulsa senior Monica Poveda, 6-3, 6-4. With the win, Weirich improved to 27-5 on the season and extended her singles winning streak to 12 matches. Also with the win, Weirich secured the TCU lead, 4-2, against the Hurricane heading into doubles competition.

In doubles play, the senior tandem of Lucie Dvorakova and Daria Zoldakova clinched the conference title with an 8-2 win over the Tulsa team of Jennifer DeSpain and Jana Dedivec. Dvorakova and Zoldakova, an all-WAC doubles pairing, notched their 14th-consecutive win of the season and improved to 28-2 overall and 13-0 in the spring season.

"This is a huge win for us," Zoldakova said. "This (the WAC title) was an accomplishment we wanted before we ended our career at TCU and this is just a dream come true."

TCU head coach Roland Ingram recorded his 286th career win and was named the WAC Coach-of-the-Year.

"I am proud of this team," he said. "We played strong all year and this is the best for the players, especially the seniors."

This marked the first time that TCU tallied a WAC title. The last time a TCU women's tennis team captured a conference crown was in 1992, when the Frogs won the Southwest Conference.

With the win, TCU improved to 21-4 on the season and has won 14 of its last 15 dual matches. Tulsa, ranked 27th, fell to 20-5 on the season.

#1 TCU (26) d. #2 Tulsa (27), 5-3

SINGLES
No. 1: Bianca Posada, Tulsa, d. Lucie Dvorakova (54), TCU; 6-3, 6-4
No. 2: Dorrit Huppes (58), TCU, d. Aleksandra Durska, Tulsa; 6-4, 6-1
No. 3: Leoni Weirich, TCU, d. Monica Poveda, Tulsa; 6-3, 6-4
No. 4: Jana Sedivec, Tulsa, d. Daria Zoldakova, TCU; 7-5, 6-0
No. 5: Jessika Kjellgren, TCU, d. Jennifer DeSpain, Tulsa; 7-5, 6-3
No. 6: Debbie Bell, TCU, d. Marjolein van Dongen, Tulsa; 6-2, 6-2

DOUBLES
No. 1: Zoldakova/Dvorakova (12), TCU, d. DeSpain/Sedivec, Tulsa; 8-2
No. 2: Huppes/Bell, TCU, vs. Poveda/van Dongen, Tulsa; DNF
No. 3: Durska/Posada, Tulsa, d. Weirich/Stacy Sabala, Tulsa; 8-1

Rice Wins Consolation Final, 5-1, Over Hawai'i

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 30)--Rice, ranked 61st in the nation, upended seventh-seeded Hawai'i, 5-1, to win the consolation bracket at the WAC Women's Tennis Championships. Rice, the tournament's fifth seed, won two matches after a first round loss to win the consolation bracket.

Headlining the winners for Rice was senior Charlotte Feasby who defeated Hawai'i junior Suzie Saunders, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

The only loss for Rice came at the No. 1 spot when senior Elle Lewis fell to UH junior Nina Wegner, 6-1, 6-2. Both Lewis and Wegner, however, were named to the all-WAC team.

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP
# 5 Rice (61) d. #7 Hawai'i, 5-1

SINGLES
No. 1: Nina Wenger, Hawai'i, d. Elle Lewis, Rice; 6-1, 6-2
No. 2: Charlotte Feasby, Rice, d. Suzie Saunders, Hawai'i; 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
No. 3: Erin Waters, Rice, d. Lynn Novack, Hawai'i; 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
No. 4: Judith Hagedorn, Rice, d. Georgina Sesto, Hawai'i; 6-0, 6-1
No. 5: Jeri Gonzalez, Rice, d. Petra Holma, Hawai'i; 6-4,6-4
No. 6: Natalie Briaud, Rice, d. Jennifer Oshita, Hawai'i; 6-2, 6-2

2000 Women's All-WAC Selections

1999-2000 WAC All-Conference Team SINGLES
Kandiss Creighton, Fresno State
Aleksandra Durska, Tulsa
Lucie Dvorakova, TCU
Dee Dee Herring, SMU
Dorrit Huppes, TCU
Elle Lewis, Rice
Tanja Magoc, UTEP
Kim Niggemeyer, Fresno State
Monica Poveda, Tulsa
Megan Russell, SMU
Nina Wenger, Hawai'i
Marta Zivanov, San Jose State

DOUBLES
Daria Zoldakova/Lucie Dvorakova, TCU
Kim Niggemeyer/Renee Kops-Jones, Fresno State
Tanja Magoc/Jana Perkova, UTEP
Dorrit Huppes/Debbie Bell, TCU
Megan Russell/Lindsay Bruce, SMU
Jennifer DeSpain/Jana Sedivec, Tulsa

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Dorrit Huppes, TCU
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kim Niggemeyer, Fresno State
COACH OF THE YEAR: Roland Ingram, TCU

Schedule