Tulane Women's Tennis Set for Fall Debut
Sep 16, 2015 | Women's Tennis
NEW ORLEANS -- The wait is officially over for the Tulane women's tennis squad, who will begin their fall campaign this Friday in Orlando for the UCF Quad Tournament. The event will take place Sept. 18-20 at the UCF Tennis Complex, and will feature the Green Wave clashing against North Florida, Mercer and host Central Florida in both doubles and singles matches.
Tulane head coach Terri Sisk begins her eighth year at the helm of the program, returning seven letter-winners from last year's 17-9 squad that achieved a season high national ranking of 47. Of that group, Coach Sisk welcomes back three veteran seniors in Ipek Birol, Jacqui Katz and Meredith Maltby, all mainstays in last spring's lineup, who combined for 32 dual wins.
Rounding out the returnees is junior Kyla Klier and sophomores Sade Atkinson, Zoe Gaber and Naz Karagoz, as the latter is coming off of an impressive freshman year debut in which the Istanbul, Turkey native was named an American Athletic All-Conference selection. Furthermore, Karagoz and Atkinson held down the No. 1 doubles spot for the Wave last year, in which the duo went 9-5, which included a seven-match win streak.
"Naz's potential is through the roof," Sisk said. "That young lady can do whatever she puts her mind to. I dig her energy and I would love to see more females possess that energy because it's passion. Naz's ability is something a lot of coaches love to get their hands on. I would expect to see tremendous things from here."
In addition, the Wave will be joined by two five-star freshmen in Sofia Kurtz (Atlanta, Georgia) and Elena Muller (Dallas, Texas). Kurtz and Mueller ranked 79th and 23rd nationally respectively, with the latter notching a momentous summer after claiming the singles and doubles crown at the ITA Summer Circuit in Dallas.
"The team we have this year is something I'm really excited about. We've added two very solid freshmen. I know what this group is capable of. They're ready and they're hungry and you can't ask for anything better than that."
The UCF Quad Tournament format will see each team play one doubles match and one singles match per day against different opponents. Furthermore, there will be a 10-minute break following doubles. For a complete schedule for this weekend's events, please consult the list below.
UCF Quad Tournament Schedule:
Fri. September 18th
Doubles
UNF vs. UCF @ 9:00 am CT
Mercer vs. Tulane @ 9:00 am
Singles
UNF vs. Tulane
Mercer vs. UCF
Sat. September 19th
Doubles
Tulane vs. UCF @ 9:00 am CT
UNF vs. Mercer @ 9:00 am
Singles
UNF vs. UCF
Tulane vs. Mercer
Sun. September 20th
Doubles
Mercer vs. UCF @ 8:00 am CT
UNF vs. Tulane @ 8:00 am
Singles
Tulane vs. UCF
Mercer vs. UNF
Players Mentioned
