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 | Class:
Senior
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| Hometown:
Colorado Springs, Colo.
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| High School:
Pine Creek
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| Last College:
Southern California
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| Height:
5-4
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| Birthdate:
11/24/1985
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| Experience:
3L
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| Plays:
Right
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FALL 2005 (SOPHOMORE [TCU]): Entered the fall ranked No. 3 in the nation in singles, which was a TCU record...Also grabbed the No. 17 spot in doubles with Ana Cetnik...Finished the fall ranked No. 1 in the ITA Southwest Region...Went 6-1 in singles play and 0-2 with Cetnik...Her first tournament of the fall was the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships...Leimbach won the event without dropping a set in five matches to become TCU's first grand slam winner...She defeated No. 5-ranked Daniela Bercek from Duke in the final 6-3, 6-4...It avenged three losses Leimbach suffered to Bercek the year before...Along the way, Leimbach defeated No. 15 Kim Coventry of Kentucky, No. 29 Carolin Walter of Baylor, No. 8 Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech and Amanda Fink of Southern California...Leimbach took out No. 16 Natalie Frazier of Georgia 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships after receiving the tournament's No. 1 seed...Fell to No. 122 Zuzana Cerna of Baylor in the next round...Leimbach and Cetnik's two doubles matches were no easy chore, as they fell to No. 1 Carolina Basu and Shadisha Robinson from Georgia and No. 7 Gabrielle Duch and Neyssa Etienne of USF at the All-American.
2004-05 (FRESHMAN [SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA]): Earned All-America honors in singles...Named Pac-10 Player of the Year and first-team All-Pac-10...Won the Pac-10 Singles Tournament in April by defeating Alice Barnes from Stanford in three sets...Earned a final singles ranking of eighth...Overall, Leimbach was 32-12 in singles, which included a 14-7 mark playing exclusively at No. 1 singles in dual matches...Was 18-5 in tournament competition...Went 25-12 against ranked opponents and registered seven victories against top 25 players...Had a pair of impressive victories on consecutive days against two-time NCAA singles champion Amber Liu of Stanford and Suzi Babos from California on April 8 and 9...Babos finished the year rated sixth, while Liu was seventh...Defeated Northwestern's Audra Cohen in the fall at the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November...Cohen was ranked No. 3 at season's end...Recorded a 12-16 slate in doubles playing with Dianne Matias, Lindsey Nelson and Carine Vermeulen...Posted a 5-10 slate at one doubles and was 4-1 at the No. 2 hole for a 9-11 dual match doubles record...Notched two victories in doubles against ranked duos...Enjoyed an outstanding fall, posting an 11-3 singles record...Advanced to the quarterfinals of the main draw at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships after starting off in the qualifier...Advanced to the ITA Regional quarterfinals...Earned an invitation to the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, where she advanced to the semifinals before falling to second-ranked Megan Bradley of Miami (Fla.)...Entered the spring season ranked No. 6 in singles, which was the highest for her during the academic year.
HIGH SCHOOL/JUNIOR: Leimbach is a 2004 graduate of Pine Creek High in Colorado Springs, Colo...A four-time division 4A state high school champion...Named the 2004 National High School Coaches Association Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the Colorado Sportswomen Hall of Fame in 2002...A top-ranked junior who earned No. 1 rankings in the 14s, 16s and 18s...Captured two International Tennis Federation titles and 13 national championships...Her tournament wins included four Roxy National Opens (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003), two United States Tennis Association Super National Winter Championships (2002, 2003), two El Paso ITF Championships (2002, 2003), two Copper Bowl National Opens (2000, 2001), the 2003 Texas Open Championship, 2002 USTA Super National Spring Championship, 2001 USTA Super National Clay Court Championship, 2001 Denver City Open, 2001 Franklin Winter National Open and the 2000 USTA National Open...Also captured two USTA Pro Circuit titles in Evansville, Ind., and Southlake, Texas, in July 2004.
PERSONAL: Nicole Jillian Leimbach was born Nov. 24, 1985, in Colorado Springs, Colo...The daughter of Glenn and Sharleen...Hopes to play professionally after graduation.
