May 13, 2005

NEW ORLEANS, La. - In a match that took nearly six hours off of the clock thanks to a rain delay of three hours and 15 minutes, the Tulane women's tennis team shutout the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, 4-0, in the opening round of the 2005 NCAA Women's Championships on Friday at Goldring Tennis Center.

With the win, the 14th-seeded Green Wave (24-5) advance to Saturday's regional championship match, taking on the winner of the TCU/LSU match. First serve is slated for noon at Goldring Tennis Center.

Tulane's No. 2 doubles team of Jenny Kuehn and Julie Smekodub wasted little time, 31 minutes to be exact, in notching their 21st win of the year, 8-1 over Emilija Arnaudovska and Zdenka Puflerova. The Wave's No. 3 tandem of Nancy Kockott and Ana Saaibi put Tulane on the board with an 8-4 victory over Bonnie Phillips and Jana Simurkova.

After sophomore Darya Ivanov recorded a 6-0, 6-0 shutout on court four over Knavs, the skies opened up, suspending play just over three hours with Tulane leading 2-0 and ahead in several matches.

"I started a little slow in doubles, I think I was still warming up during that match. Everything clicked in singles," Darya Ivanov said. "It was a relief to be done before the rain delay so that I didn't have to start over from scratch."

Following the postponement, Kockott finished her first set 6-1, before cruising to a 6-0 second set win over Puflerova on court five as the Wave built a 3-0 advantage. As Tulane was looking for its final tally, Maria Ivanov stormed back from a 4-1 deficit in the first set at No. 1 to win 7-5 and led 5-2 in the second set before Saaibi turned in the win on court six, 6-2, 7-5 to end the match.

"Our strength has been our depth all season, we have six girls who can play anywhere, which really helps at four, five and six," Tulane head coach David Schumacher said. "Tomorrow we will have to come out ready to play, because it will be a tough match regardless of which team we play."

Southeastern, playing in its first-ever NCAA Women's Tennis Championship, ends the season at 19-7.

No. 16 Tulane 4, No. 72 Southeastern Louisiana 0
5/13/05 - NCAA Championships First Round
Goldring Tennis Center - New Orleans, La.

Doubles
1. M. Ivanov/D. Ivanov (TU) vs. Knavs/Kovac (SLU): DNF
2. Kuhn/Smekodub (TU) def. Arnaudovska/Puflerova (SLU): 8-1
3. Kockott/Saaibi (TU) def. Phillips/Simurkova (SLU): 8-4

Order of Finish: 2, 3

Singles
1. Maria Ivanov (TU) vs. Breda Kovac (SLU): DNF
2. Jenny Kuhn(TU) vs. Emilija Arnaudovska (SLU): DNF
3. Julie Smekodub (TU) vs. Jana Simurkova (SLU): DNF
4. Darya Ivanov (TU) def. Nina Knavs (SLU): 6-0,6-0
5. Nancy Kockott (TU) def. Zdenka Puflerova (SLU): 6-1, 6-0
6. Ana Saaibi (TU) def. Bonnie Phillips (SLU): 6-2, 7-5

Order of Finish: 4,5,6