Women's Tennis Freshmen Capture ITA Regional Titles
Oct 21, 2002 | Women's Tennis
Oct. 21, 2002
FORT WORTH, Texas - - Tulane women's tennis player Julie Smekodub won the singles title at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships before teaming with fellow Wave freshman Jenny Kuhn to claim the doubles title at the Bayard Friedman Tennis Courts on the TCU campus on Monday.
By winning the doubles event, Smekodub and Kuhn receive an automatic berth into the ITA National Indoor Championships in early November. Smekodub will also participate in the National Indoor's singles draw by virtue of winning the Southwest Regional title.
In singles action, Smekodub cruised through the semifinals and finals on Monday, winning each match in straight sets. She started with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Texas' Kendra Strohm in the semifinals before topping No. 6 seed Vida Mulec of Baylor, 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match. Smekodub, a true freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y., was the draw's No. 1 seed.
Smekodub then partnered with Kuhn, a freshman from Leipzig, Germany, to win the doubles title. The duo outlasted the No. 1 seeded team of Dawson and Tereschenko from Texas Tech, 9-7, in the semifinals. In the championship match, Smekodub and Kuhn cruised to an 8-0 win over the No. 2 seeded team of Aburto and Perez from Conference USA rival TCU.
"This is an exceptional result, both for the players and for the Tulane women's tennis program," Tulane head coach David Schumacher said. "These are outstanding national results. I'm not sure how many times a school has won both the singles and doubles titles, but it is pretty rare, so we are very excited."
