Women's Tennis To Participate In Rice Classic Over Weekend
Oct 7, 2010 | Women's Tennis
Oct. 7, 2010
Coach Sisk's Comments Entering The Rice Classic
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's tennis team will get a sneak peek at the spring competition when the Green Wave head to Houston for the Rice Classic over the weekend at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
The Rice Classic is the third of five fall tournaments on the Green Wave schedule, and Tulane is one of six Conference USA teams taking the court this weekend. Joining the Wave from the league are host Rice along with Houston, Southern Miss, UAB and UTEP. Texas State and Lee College round out the tournament field.
"We are actually very excited to play this tournament," Tulane head women's tennis coach Terri Sisk said. "As I told the girls in our meeting before our practice time today, this is our preview of conference. This will show you where you stack up this year. I feel very confident that our team has gotten better. We're getting older and more knowledgeable.
"This will be a good test for us. We're just really excited to play. The weather is going to be great. The girls are excited. We're having a great fall and we're looking to stack up some more wins."
After turning more than a few heads with their performances at the String 'n Swing Memphis Collegiate Invitational and the Roberta Alison Fall Classic, the Green Wave are 34-19 in singles play and 18-9 in doubles action. Along the way, Tulane student-athletes have posted a trio of singles draw championships and a pair of doubles flight titles.
Junior Lindsay Dvorak leads the team with a 5-1 singles record, including a 3-0 showing at the Memphis Invite where she won the A4 Outdoor Draw. Fellow juniors Elizabeth Hamlin, Jessica Lange and Sharon Siegel, along with sophomore Emma Levy - who won the Venus Williams Draw at the Alison Classic - all follow with four wins each. Junior Marcela Fonseca, who was forced to sit out most of the Roberta Alison Classic with a slight injury, is 3-0 on the year, including a B2 Indoor Flight Championship at the Memphis Collegiate Invitational.
The doubles tandems of Levy and junior Mariam Kurdadze pace the club with a 6-2 record, including a 1-1 showing at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championship last week in Westwood, Calif., and a flight win at the Wimbledon Draw at the Alison Classic. The partnership of Lange and Siegel, meanwhile, are 5-1 on the young season with a win in the B2 Indoor Draw of the Memphis Invite.
And while the team - in just its third season back on the court after having the program suspend operations from 2005-08 - has enjoyed unprecedented success in its current era, Sisk was quick to point out that she feels her team is still very much grounded and hungry to take the next step as a program.
"I'd like to think that I keep their ego under control in practice," Sisk said. "As far as Mariam and Emma (are concerned), they went to the All-American and saw firsthand what the next level is like. I don't really worry about an ego standpoint right now, but it can happen.
"I just tell them that if you lose to a person you're not supposed to lose to, you need to understand why. You can't size somebody up by who they play for, where they're from or what school they play for. It doesn't matter. Everybody is out there just to go after each other."
The Rice Classic gets underway on Friday with two rounds of doubles and the first round of singles. The tournament continues on Saturday with another round of singles and the doubles flight championships, while the singles flight championships are slated for Sunday.
Following the weekend in Houston, the Green Wave will enjoy a week off before heading to Birmingham, Ala., for the ITA Southern Regional Championships, which is scheduled to run from Oct. 22-25. Tulane will wrap up fall tournament play on Nov. 12-14 at the Lakewood Ranch Clay Court Classic in Tampa, Fla.
Players Mentioned
