Women's Tennis Set To Defend Its C-USA Title
Apr 18, 2002 | Women's Tennis
April 17, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - - The Tulane women's tennis team sets out in defense of its 2001 Conference USA Women's Tennis title, as the Green Wave travel to Fort Worth for the 2002 edition this weekend.
Tulane, which earned the No. 5 seed at this year's tournament, will face No. 12 seed East Carolina at approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday. The Green Wave enter the tournament with a 12-11 record. The Wave will meet either No. 4 seed Houston or No. 13 seed Charlotte in the second round.
Last season, as the No. 2 seed, Tulane won its first-ever Conference USA Women's Tennis championship with a 4-0 win over top-seeded UAB. This year's top seed is league newcomer, and tournament host, TCU. DePaul earned the No. 2 seed while Marquette is seeded third.
"We're excited to have a chance to defend our championship," Tulane head coach David Schumacher said. "This will no doubt be a tough tournament, but we are looking forward to the challenge."
TCU is the highest ranked team in the tournament, checking in at No. 29 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. Despite warranting just a No. 5 seed, Tulane is the next highest-ranked team, coming in at No. 64 in the ITA poll. South Florida, which is seeded sixth in the tournament, is the only other league team ranked by the ITA, sitting at No. 68.
A key for the Green Wave will be the health status of freshman Maria Ivanov. A native of Adelaide, Australia, Ivanov has missed Tulane's last three matches with a minor injury. She had moved into the No. 1 spot in the singles line-up before her injury and has compiled an 11-5 mark overall in singles play. Junior Julie Morris, who has also played No. 1 singles, has posted a 12-9 mark for the Wave this season, while senior Joyce Bergman has been solid at No. 3 singles. Bergman leads the Wave with 13 wins in singles play and is one of just two Wave players to see action in all 22 singles matches.
Another key for the Wave will be its play in doubles competition. This season, Tulane is 10-3 when claiming the opening doubles point, awarded to the team that wins at least two of three doubles matches, and 0-8 when losing the doubles point.
Should Tulane win its first-round match, the Green Wave will face the winner of the Houston/Charlotte match at noon on Friday. If Tulane loses, the Wave will meet either the Cougars or 49ers in a loser's bracket match at 3 p.m. on Friday.
