TCU
ITA Southwest Regionals
Besovic, Sydorska claim TCU's first regional doubles title
10/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 25, 2005
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Helena Besovic and Anna Sydorska won the Wilson/ITA Southwest Regional Championships doubles title Tuesday in College Station, Texas. It marked the first regional doubles title in school history for the Horned Frogs.
Besovic and Sydorska started the day with a 9-7 victory over No. 5-seeded Blair DiSesa and Alanna Rodgers of Rice. The TCU duo came back from two breaks and an early 3-0 deficit to win the match. In the final, they topped Texas' Mia Marovic and Kendra Strohm 8-5.
"I'm very excited about this," TCU coach Dave Borelli said. "The regional doubles means a lot to our program. It puts us in the thick of things with good teams. We still have a long year to continue working on doubles, but I'm very pleased with where we are so far. Helena has improved so much and Anna has been a pleasant surprise in doubles."
Besovic, who is ranked 21st in singles, reached the semifinals in singles before losing to top-seeded Zuzana Zemenova of Baylor. Last year, Besovic became the first Frog to win the regional singles title when she beat Strohm in three sets.
Besovic and Sydorska received an automatic berth into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the victory. The indoors are the second of three grand slam events this season, taking place over Nov. 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio, at The Ohio State University. Besovic received an at-large bid in singles for the event as well.
Nicole Leimbach, who won the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, will also compete in Columbus. The All-American is the first grand slam and her win marked TCU's first title of any kind in a slam. The final national tournament is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May.
Doubles Main Draw
SF: Helena Besovic/Anna Sydorska, TCU, def. Blair DiSesa/Alanna Rodgers, Rice, 9-7
F: Helena Besovic/Anna Sydorska, TCU, def. Mia Marovic/Kendra Strohm, Texas, 8-5
