May 11, 2005
THIS WEEK'S ACTION
The No. 18 TCU women's tennis team will travel to New Orleans, La., for the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship. The Frogs will play No. 44 LSU in the Round of 64 on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Tulane's Goldring Tennis Center. With a victory, TCU would play the winner of Tulane/SE Louisiana at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
THE LINE-UP
The Frogs will run out the same line-up that they used at the Conference USA Championships, which were held at the end of April. In singles, Story Tweedie-Yates and Helena Besovic will hold down the top two spots, followed by Kewa Nichols, Ana Cetnik, Andrea Morgado and Gloriann Lopez.
In doubles, Cetnik and Tweedie-Yates will occupy the top spot in the line-up. Besovic and Nichols will play at the two line and seniors Paige Brown and Karla Mancinas at the three.
LIVE MATCH SCORING
Live updates for this weekend's NCAA Regional matches will be available on Tulane's website at: www.tulanegreenwave.com.
THE NEW ORLEANS REGIONAL
No. 14 seed, Tulane, serves as host to the New Orleans regional. The Green Wave will face Southeastern Louisiana in their opening match on Friday. A victory by both Tulane and TCU would set up a C-USA Championship rematch between the two schools.
The victor from New Orleans will then head to Athens, Ga., for the Sweet 16. They would face the winner of the Lexington, Ky., regional featuring Indiana, Wake Forest, Marshall and third-seeded Kentucky.
FROGS IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
This season is TCU's second straight NCAA appearance and its eighth overall in the history of the program (1996-98, 2000-02, 2004-05). The Frogs have advanced to the Second Round twice in their eight appearances. In 2001, TCU topped Boise State, 4-0, before falling to Texas, 4-1. A year later, the team topped Texas A&M, 4-1, but again fell to the Longhorns, 4-2. The team has never advanced out of the NCAA Regionals and into the Sweet 16.
THREE SELECTED FOR SINGLES AND DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS
TCU had three players, Story Tweedie-Yates, Helena Besovic and Ana Cetnik, selected to play in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships. The three players is the most that the Frogs have had competing in a single NCAA Championship in the history of the program, as the previous high was two on three different occasions. The event will be held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., on May 23-28 following the team championships.
TCU ENDS REGULAR SEASON RANKED 18TH
The Frogs finished 18th in the country in the final regular season poll, which is the first time in school history that the team has been ranked in the top-20 at the end of the regular season. Of the 20 teams, TCU is the only school listed to have never been among the top-20.
In singles, Story Tweedie-Yates is 14th in the nation, while Helena Besovic is 40th. In doubles, Ana Cetnik and Tweedie-Yates came in as the 29th ranked pair in the country.
16 IN A ROW
Story Tweedie-Yates has won 16 consecutive matches dating back to Feb. 22 to push her overall record to 32-4 on the season. The senior has a 16-4 record against ranked opponents, including wins over two top-10 players in Aibika Kalsarieva of Kentucky and Nicole Leimbach of Southern California.
THE "X" FACTOR
When the Frogs win the doubles point they are 19-1 in dual matches this season. In contrast, the team is 0-3 when it loses the point. The Frogs lone loss this season when winning the point came against Southern California. The team dropped the point in matches against Baylor and in both meetings with Tulane.
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM?
The Frogs could potentially face Tulane for the third time in a little more than a month in the Round of 32 at the NCAA Championships on May 14.
In the previous two meetings, the outcome has been determined in the final match as the Green Wave have recorded tight 4-3 victories. The teams have split the six singles matches each time, but Tulane has claimed both the doubles points.
HONORS GALORE
TCU had four players recognized on the C-USA All-Conference teams. Helena Besovic, Ana Cetnik and Story Tweedie-Yates were first team selections, while Kewa Nichols was a third team honoree. Tweedie-Yates was also named the Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Singles Player of the Championship.
Regionally, Tweedie-Yates was named the ITA Southwest Region Senior Player of the Year, while Besovic was tabbed as the "Player to Watch". Head Coach Dave Borelli was also named the region's Coach of the Year.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
The Frogs have achieved two program firsts this season. On Feb. 13, TCU defeated No. 7 Clemson, 4-3, to top the highest ranked opponent in school history. As a result on Feb. 15, the Frogs were 14th in the ITA team rankings, a new high for the program.
BORELLI BREAKDOWN
Head Coach Dave Borelli has a 350-67 (.839) record during his 16 year coaching career. He also has the most national titles of any active coach in the NCAA's (both men and women). Former Stanford Coach Dick Gould has the most titles with 17, but he retired at the end of the 2003-04 season.
In two plus years with the Frogs, Borelli has posted a 48-22 (.686) mark, which includes a 32-8 record at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center, a 13-12 mark on the road and a 3-2 record on neutral courts.
SCOUTING THE REGIONAL FIELD
LSU enters the championship with a No. 44 national ranking and a 12-11 overall record. The Tigers also had a 4-8 record in the highly-competitive SEC.
Tiffany Tucker and Camila Caliari hold the two best dual records on the team. Tucker has a 14-7 mark at the four and five spots, while Caliari is 12-6 at the five and six positions. In doubles, Lauren Seaman and Tucker have compiled a 12-5 dual record at the one line.
No. 16 Tulane has won 15-straight matches and 21-of-its-last-22 to push its record to 23-5 on the year. The Green Wave have two players, Jenny Kuehn (46) and Nancy Kockott (106), ranked in singles. They also have two doubles pairs, Maria and Darya Ivanov (31) and Kuehn and Julie Smekodub (42), in the rankings.
Southland Conference champion and 74-ranked Southeastern Louisiana enters the weekend with a 19-6 overall record. Emilija Arnaudovska has the top record in singles at 20-3 with a majority of her matches coming at the two line. Nina Knavs and Breda Kovac are 16-6 at the no. 1 doubles position.
