New Orleans, La. – Top-seeded Tulane (17-4) captured the 2003 Conference USA Women’s Tennis Championship by defeating defending champion and No. 2-seed TCU (11-10), 4-0, on Tuesday at the Green Wave’s Goldring Tennis Center. It’s Tulane’s second C-USA title in the last three seasons.

The Green Wave, ranked 28th, took the early lead when its No. 2 and 3 doubles tandems secured a team point with victories in those matches. The Tulane duo of Maria Ivanov and Nancy Kockott posted an 8-3 win at the No. 2 spot over TCU’s Ivonne Andrade and Brenna Shackelford. In the other doubles victory, the Wave tandem of Erika Valdes and Ana Saabi defeated the Horned Frogs’ Gloriann Lopez and Karla Mancinas, 8-2.

Tulane sealed the championship with victories in the lower three singles contests with Saabi clinching the team win with a victory at No. 5 singles. She defeated Iris Jacklin, 7-6, 6-2, in the deciding match. Valdes, the 103rd ranked player, was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Mancinas at No. 4 singles, while Kockott upended Shackelford, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 6 position.

Tulane joins South Florida (1997 and 2000) as the only league members to win two conference championships. The Green Wave won its first league championship in 2001.

Louisville, the No. 6 seed, posted a 4-2 decision over Houston, the No. 3 seed, to win third-place at the Dillard University Tennis Center. The Cardinals improve to 22-7, while Houston falls to 12-10.

The Cougars took the early advantage with the team of Kami Miller and Analia Longoni winning at No. 1 doubles and the tandem of Sarah Flood and Karine Urbin taking the No. 3 contest to secure the point for Houston.

However in singles play, the Cardinals rallied back to win four of the five matches. U of L’s top singles player, Marie Louise Froelich-Hansen defeated Houston’s Miranda Foley, 6-3, 6-3. Melisa San Martin defeated Miller, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 4 singles, while Julie Penn scored a 6-4, 6-0 victory over UH’s Sarah Flood at No. 5 singles. Jasmin Singh closed out the Cardinals singles wins with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Sandy Blajer in the No. 6 match.

In the fifth-place matches, East Carolina (16-8) tallied a 6-1 win over DePaul (18-10), which was forced to default the singles portion of the contest due to travel plans and Memphis (16-7) was a 4-0 winner over Marquette (5-18).


Order of Finish
Champion – Tulane
2nd Place – TCU
3rd Place – Louisville
4th Place – Houston
5th Place – East Carolina and Memphis