TCU
ITA National Indoors
Leimbach, doubles team advance in ITA National Indoors
11/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Nov. 3, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The TCU women's tennis team snagged two victories in its three matches Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. Nicole Leimbach won her first-round singles match, while Helena Besovic and Anna Sydorska were victorious in doubles play.
The No. 3-ranked Leimbach dropped her first set of the season, falling 6-3 in the first to No. 16 Natalie Frazier of Georgia. She recovered to win convincingly in the next two 6-2, 6-0. Leimbach faces 122nd-rated Zuzana Cerna from Baylor on Friday.
"It was a good win for Nicole because she has always had close matches with Natalie through the years," TCU head coach Dave Borelli said. "She played well during the last part of the match. It was an important win."
Besovic, ranked 21st, suffered a 6-4, 6-3 setback to Arkansas' Ela Kaluder in the first round.
In doubles, Besovic and Sydorska recorded an 8-4 victory against No. 47 Eva Dickes and Bianca Dulgheru of Pepperdine to move into the quarterfinals. Besovic and Sydorska are the first tandem in TCU history to earn a victory in the main draw. They next face No. 3-ranked Iva Gersic and Maja Kovacek from New Mexico on Friday.
"This was a great win because the Pepperdine team won the West Regional, which has teams like Stanford and USC in it," Borelli said.
The ITA National Indoors are the second of three grand slam events in collegiate tennis. The first was the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in October and the last is the NCAA Championships in May. Leimbach won this year's All-American to become TCU's first grand slam winner.
Singles Main Draw
R32: Ela Kaluder, Arkansas, def. #21 Helena Besovic, TCU, 6-4, 6-3
R32: #3 Nicole Leimbach, TCU, def. #16 Natalie Frazier, Georgia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles Main Draw
R16: Helena Besovic/Anna Sydorska, TCU, def. #47 Eva Dickes/Bianca Dulgheru, Pepperdine, 8-4
