Oct. 15, 2004
The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team has a long and proud tradition of success and lately has proven why more people should pay attention to UNM tennis. The athletes responsible for sparking much deserved attention this season are UNM players Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic. These New Mexico players have paired up to form a fierce doubles team that recently made some noise this October at the prestigious Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The ITA, which stands for Intercollegiate Tennis Association, holds three highly respected national events that include the All-American Championships, the Indoor Championships and the NCAA Championships. Each event hosts top ranked Division I players from around the nation. Next up for the New Mexico duo is the ITA Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. Nov. 4-7.
Kovacek and Gersic at the ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. |
Kovacek and Gersic were invited to compete in the main doubles draw of 16at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, an honor UNM women’s tennis had never received before. The Lobo duo, who earned a preseason national ranking of No. 11 in August, were chosen to compete among the nation’s best at the ITA tournament and were given a chance to represent the University of New Mexico on a national level. Kovacek and Gersic did just that as they defeated a No. 8 team from Michigan to advance to the quarterfinals and a No. 3 duo from Kentucky to slide into the semifinals. Kovacek and Gersic did not make it to the finals, but all was not lost as the doubles team put UNM on the map nationally with its fantastic run and received a berth into the next important ITA national tournament, the Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.
Kovacek, a junior, is no stranger to the ITA tournaments. She competed in the singles qualifying portion of the ITA All-American Championships last year and at the Indoor Championships as a doubles player with former Lobo Sandy Lukowski. Kovacek’s biggest accomplishment on her resume though is her performance at last season’s NCAA Championships where she and Lukowski made it to the semifinal round of doubles competition and became the first UNM women tennis players to earn tennis All-America honors. Gersic, although only a sophomore, has several acheivements to her name. In her inaugural season with UNM, she tied for first place on the team for most single season wins with 28 and earned a national ranking of No. 111 in singles for the year. Gersic also received a No. 7 ranking in the Central Region for singles and a No. 9 ranking in the Central Region for doubles with former UNM tennis player Maria Ruiz-Fabrega. Not only did Gersic have solid performances at the Riviera this October with Kovacek she also played some of her best tennis as an amateur at the ColemanVision Championships held in Albuquerque, N.M. There she defeated top world competitors and worked herself up from the qualifying rounds to the singles main draw.
The doubles team recently sat down with us for a conversation on their experiences at the All-American Championships, their place in Lobo tennis history and their general feelings on the sport they play.
On the ITA Tournament Experience
What does competing in the ITA’s top two national tournaments mean to you compared to competing in the MWC Championships and the NCAAs?
Maja: In a way it is more exciting, but in a way its not because it’s just the two of us and we play individually, there’s no team there. In a way it’s maybe a little bit easier to concentrate just on your match, but then again you don’t have your team cheering for you. Sometimes its better and sometimes its not. The atmosphere is a little more intense. There’s just maybe one or two players that are the best from each school. You do feel like its a big tournament because there are really good players.
Iva: It’s just such a good feeling to be able to go to a tournament like that.
How did you feel when you guys first found out that you were selected to compete in the doubles main draw of 16 at the Riviera and that you were the first UNM women’s tennis players in the history of the program to be picked to be in any kind of main draw of the tournament? Were you excited?
Maja and Iva: Yeah!
Maja: In everything you do, if you are the first person that does that no matter what it is it’s really exciting. We were defintley excited to play in the main draw and compete with the best because we knew we belonged there.
Was it a surprise for you to defeat a No. 3 ranked team and make it all the way to the semifinals?
Sophomore Iva Gersic |
Maja and Iva: No.
Maja: It was motivating to play a No. 3 ranked team. It wasn’t intimidating at all. It was kind of a surprise for us to make it to the semifinals, but we also knew we could do it. It just depended on if we were going to play the best that we could that day. It’s like we didn’t play very well that day we lost, but if we had we would’ve won.
Iva: It’s like she said everyone is good and so it doesn’t really matter about their ranking.
Maja: Last year I played against a No. 1 team in doubles and we (Sandy Lukowski) beat them. In doubles, the rankings are just relative, anyone can beat anyone out of the top-10 or top-20. It’s good for us though to play a highly ranked team. We were glad to play a team higher than us so we could beat them and get higher in the rankings.
Knowing that you already have a bid to the ITA National Individual Indoor Championships, will it affect your play at the ITA Regionals this week(Ocotber 20-24)?
Maja: The pressure is off in a sense that we did qualify for the Indoor. It’s not like we have to win the doubles at regionals, but still I think going as the highest ranked team and maybe the favorites there is still some sort of pressure, but I think we should do good.
UNM Tennis History Makers
Maja, you’ve established yourself as one of the top women tennis players to ever compete at UNM, playing at the NCAA’s last year and earning All-America. Do you ever sit back and reflect upon your place in school history?
Junior Maja Kovacek |
Maja: I think the first time I thought about it was at the NCAA’s because Sandy and I were the first All-Americans and that’s nice to hear. It’s nice to know that every All-Americans from now, we are still going to be the first ones. So I think its a big deal, but I would like to do the same thing this year in singles.
Iva, in your short career you have already accomplished a lot. Do you ever think about how much more you are capable of acheiving in the rest of your time here?
Iva: I don’t really think about it. I just play and what will happen will happen. I’m glad to be where I am and I know I can do much better, but I don’t know what can happen. I don’t have any goals to do something. I’m just trying to do as much as I can while I’m here.
Both of you are from Croatia. How much has New Mexico become your home since you have been here?
Maja: It was hard at first but I really got use to it and I really like it. It’s not so much the place but the people. When you get to know them and you have a team then its like a family and it starts to feel like home.
Iva: I think its a big deal to have good roommates. I really like my roommates. But being here is so much different from back home.
Final 10 Questions
1. Which do you prefer playing singles or doubles?
Maja and Iva: Doubles.
2. What do you think makes you two a good doubles team?
Maja: I think that we are both Croatian means a lot to us. So we can talk to each other.
Iva: And I think its because we use to play together before and we know each other so well. We’ve known each other for 11 years.
Maja: We just figured out that we played our first doubles match when we were 11 years old in Croatia so this is fun for us to be able to play here again. We never thought this could happen so we really like it.
3. Do you prefer playing indoor or outdoor?
Maja: Indoor, always.
Iva: Outdoor, sometimes indoor. I don’t know, it depends on the weather.
4. How do you prepare for a tennis match, any superstitions?
Maja: I like to be by myself a little bit. I just think about anything, but I like to be by myself.
Iva: I don’t like to think about a match. I like to think about something else and just relax.
5. How much do you pay attention to the ITA national rankings for singles and doubles?
Maja: I pay attention to them. More so doubles because we are really good at it.
Iva: I don’t really pay attention. Kathy (UNM head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz) just tells me.
6. If you could be a successful Division I athlete in another sport, what would it be?
Maja: Basketball
Iva: Basketball or handball, but you don’t have handball here.
7. What would you say is you best athletic moment to date?
Maja: Making it to the semifinals at the NCAA’s last year.
Iva: Making it to the main singles draw of the ColemanVision this year.
8. What’s your favorite place to eat in Albuquerque and what’s the best meal there?
Maja: Outback. I like to get steak.
Iva: I like the kitchen in my apartment. I like what my roommate cooks.
9. What made you come to UNM?
Maja: Just the fact that I could do tennis and school. In Croatia you can’t do both.
Iva: I wanted to keep playing, but also go to school.
10. If you could play any tennis pro in the world who would it be?
Maja: Roger Federer
Iva: Patrick Rafter