April 18, 2005

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Tulane University women's tennis head coach David Schumacher and former Green Wave All-American Anna Monhartova have both been honored with major awards by Conference USA. As the league celebrates its 10th anniversary during the 2004-05 season, it is naming a Team of the Decade for each of the conference's 19 sports. The women's tennis team was released on Monday with Schumacher collecting Coach of the Decade honors and Monhartova tabbed as the Athlete of the Decade.

Schumacher is a three-time Coach of the Year for Conference USA who has led the Green Wave to five NCAA Tournaments. This year's Green Wave team currently holds the No. 15 ranking in the nation and is the top seed for this weekend's Conference USA Championship in Fort Worth, Texas. The Wave will be looking for its third straight league title and its fourth overall under the guidance of Schumacher. After serving as an assistant coach for three years, Schumacher took over the program in 2000 and has posted a winning record in each of his six seasons, including winning 20 matches in each of the last three years. He led the Wave to the NCAA Round of 16 and a final ranking of No. 11 in 2004 while this season the team has climbed as high as No. 9 in the ITA rankings.

"It is very nice to be recognized by your peers," Schumacher said. "They are in the trenches with you, dealing with the same issues and striving for the same goals. It is nice to be appreciated by them. This is also a credit to many of the student-athletes who have played for me, especially Anna Monhartova, who was selected as the Athlete of the Decade. She is very deserving of her honor; she is the one who led us to the level we are at today."

Monhartova was a three-time All-Conference USA first-team selection (1999, 2000, 2001) and was named the C-USA Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Tulane Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2001. She led the Wave to its first C-USA tournament title in 2001 while climbing as high as No. 9 in the ITA singles rankings, the highest ranking ever for a Tulane women's player. In addition to compiling a career 57-17 (.757) singles record at No. 1 singles, she was a two-time Southwest Region Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award winner and a two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete.

"I am in very surprised [to win this award]," Monhartova said. "There have been some great tennis players from other universities and I am pleasantly surprised and honored to be recognized."

Monhartova was joined on the All-Decade Team by current Green Wave standout Jenny Kuehn, who has captured C-USA Player of the Year honors in each of her first two seasons at Tulane. Kuehn was a 2003 ITA Doubles All-American and paired with Julie Smekodub to win the 2002 ITA National Indoor Doubles championship. A five-time C-USA Player of the Week, she reached the Round of 16 in doubles play at the NCAA Tournament as a freshman. She has been ranked as high as No. 1 in doubles and No. 37 in singles in her career.

Eight schools are represented by at least one member on the All-Decade Team. Marquette and Tulane were the only schools to produce two members, while Cincinnati, Houston, Saint Louis, TCU, UAB and USF each had one player on the team.