C-USA Players Begin Competition at the 2005 NCAA Women's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship

Jenny Kuehn

IRVING, Texas – Three Conference USA women’s tennis players will begin competition at the 2005 NCAA Women's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship with first round action on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, at the Magill Tennis Center in Athens, Ga. TCU’s Story Tweedie-Yates and Helena Besovic, in addition to Tulane’s Jenny Kuehn, were three of the four automatic qualifiers selected out of the Southwest Region to compete in the Singles Championship.

Kuehn, ranked No. 47 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), will face No. 20 Alice Barnes of Stanford in Monday's opening singles round at 2 p.m. (CDT). The winner of that match will meet either Erin Burdette of Stanford or Florida's Zerene Reyes in round two on Tuesday. Currently ranked No. 47 in the nation, Kuehn, a first team All-Conference USA selection and a member of the Conference USA All-Decade Team, has an overall mark of 19-11.

Tweedie-Yates, who earned one of the eight 9-16 seeds, will play Anca Anastasiu of Southern California in her first match in the lower half of the bracket. The Southwest Region Senior Player of the Year brings an 18-match winning streak into the competition, which has improved her overall record to 34-4 this season.

In the top half of the draw, Besovic will face UCLA's Daniela Bercek in her opening match. Bercek also claimed one of the 9-16 seeds in the tournament. Besovic has a team-leading 35 wins to just nine losses this season and she was named the ITA Southwest Region's Player to Watch.

USF’s Neyssa Etienne was selected as an alternate for the 64-field of singles players. Etienne was 13-4 in singles this year, including wins in each of her three matches at the Conference USA Championship, leading the Bulls to a third place finish.

For the doubles draw, which kicks off on Tuesday, Conference USA had three doubles pairs selected for the 32-team draw. USF’s team of Gabrielle Duch and Etienne earned a South Region at-large bid, while TCU’s Ana Cetnik and Tweedie-Yates tandem and Tulane’s sister duo of Darya and Maria Ivanov received at-large bids from the Southwest Region.

The Ivanovs, which are currently ranked No. 31 in the nation and were recognized as the Outstanding Doubles Team of the Conference USA Tournament, will meet Michigan's Michelle DaCosta and Kara Delicata in the opening round. With a win, the sister tandem would advance to play the winner of the opening round match between USF's Duch and Etienne and second-ranked Audra Cohen and Cristelle Grier of Northwestern.

Horned Frogs Tweedie-Yates and Cetnik will pair together in the doubles competition against Karin Coetzee and Alexandra Hirsch of Wake Forest in their opening round match.

Julie Smekodub teams with Kuehn for the Green Wave as an alternate selection for the Doubles Championship.

All matches shall be the best of three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six games all will be used for all matches.