May 17, 2006
Albuquerque N.M. – 2006 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS…The 2006 NCAA Individual Tennis Championships begin on Tuesday, May 23 at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif. New Mexico All-Americans Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic will take to the court to see what kind of ending they can make to an already fantastic season. Kovacek, who is competing for the third straight year at the championships, will be representing UNM in singles and doubles for the third time in her career while Gersic will be joining Kovacek in the doubles tournament for her second NCAA championship appearance.
The individual tournament runs May 23-28 with the singles portion starting on Tuesday and doubles on Wednesday. Kovacek enters a field of 64 singles players on Tuesday, and in doubles, Kovacek and Gersic will be in a bracket of 32 teams.
The singles and doubles brackets have yet to be announced. The NCAA will most likely wait until the team tournament is over which ends on Monday, May 22. All tournament information can be found at www.NCAASports.com or by clicking on the NCAA Championship logo found on the Lobo women’s tennis page at www.golobos.com.
A LOOK AT KOVACEK…Starting as the No. 1 and 2 singles player for the season, Kovacek brings a lot of talent and experience to her final year in the singles tournament. This year overall, the senior is 23-13 solo and has a 11-8 record in spring competition. She has remained in the ITA national rankings all season with her highest mark coming at the beginning of the new year where she was No. 20, making her the highest ranked singles player UNM women’s tennis has ever seen and beating her highest ranking from last year at No. 24. Kovacek managed upsets over BYU’s Olga Boulytcheva and TCU’s top player Nicole Leimbach. The first upset came during the regular season when Kovacek was ranked No. 39 and the Cougar senior was sporting an intimidating No. 23 mark and the second upset also came in the regular season match at the Lobo Tennis Club where then No. 39 Kovacek defeated No. 12 Leimbach. Kovacek is currently ranked No. 31 in the nation.
Kovacek is 2-2 in NCAA singles tournament action.
A LOOK AT THE DOUBLES TEAM…With the doubles team of Kovacek and junior Iva Gersic, you get double the talent, double the intensity and double trouble if you are the opposing team. Both have been undeniable forces as the No. 1 and 2 singles players for New Mexico, but most of the noise has been coming from the No. 1 doubles position where the two unite to make for some explosive tennis. There is no ignoring the amount of success Gersic accumulated as a singles player this season. She is 23-10 overall, 16-5 in spring play. With Gersic equally as talented in singles as Kovacek, it’s no wonder the pair has seen so much success this season as a doubles team. Starting the new year as the 3rd-ranked doubles team and achieving a ranking of No. 2 during the season (highest ranking for UNM ever), the duo had a lot riding on its shoulders. The pressure did not interrupt the tandem’s magnificent run though as they maintained a top-5 ranking for most of the season. At the end of the regular season they were ranked as the 7th team by the ITA, making it the first time this year the pair has dipped below the top-5. The duo has an overall record of 25-5 and a spring record of 12-3.
Kovacek’s and Gersic’s journey as a doubles team has come full circle now as they enter their final national tournament on Tuesday. Last fall, the pair gained experience at the first two national collegiate tennis events, the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships and the ITA National Indoor Championship. The duo advanced to a semifinal finish in both the All-American Championship and the Riviera/ITA National Individual Indoor Championships. The pair, which was ranked No. 3 at the time, fell to the No. 2 ranked Stanford team at the All-American Championships. At the Indoor Championships, Kovacek and Gersic defeated a team from South Florida in the first round of the doubles main draw. The duo went on to be recognized among the top two doubles teams in the nation after advancing to the semifinals round with a win against TCU. They lost by default to Stanford in the semifinal round.
The Lobo duo has definitely turned some heads on a national level as well as within the MWC. At the conference championships in April of 2005, Kovacek and Gersic were recognized for their stunning season with the MWC Co-players of the Year Award. It was the first time the Mountain West has honored two women’s tennis players for the prestigious award. Gersic and Kovacek were also recently named to the all-MWC team.
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NATIONAL RANKINGS…Individual and doubles rankings were updated once more before NCAA Individual Championships seeds were announced. Maja Kovacek remains UNM’s top ranked singles player this season. After the MWC Championship she remains No. 31 in the nation. Kovacek is currently 12-10 in the season and 23-13 overall as she received an at-large bid for the NCAA singles bracket. Iva Gersic moved up on spot from No. 81 to No. 80 after winning both of her singles matches in the conference tournament. The doubles team of Gersic and Kovacek is still a major threat in the doubles competition. They moved up from their No. 7 ranking to a No. 4 ranking after defeating both teams of the MWC Championship. The highest ranking ever achieved by a Lobo women’s tennis player came from the Gersic/Kovacek tandem when they reached a No. 2 ranking March 7 and 21. The duo has had a strong season so far with a 14-3 record this spring and 25-5 overall. They received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Championships doubles bracket automatically naming them to the All-America team. Last season the highest ranking to ever be achieved by the duo was No. 4 in which they beat out the No. 5 ranked All-American pair of Kovacek and former Lobo Sandy Lukowski from the 2004 season.
LOBOS AT THE NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS…
Several players have represented the Lobos at the NCAA Individual Championships. Here is a breakdown of who has gone to the NCAA tournament for New Mexico:
Singles History1984- Leanne Palmisano was the first Lobo singles player to compete at the NCAA Individual Championships.
1997-2000- In the spring of 1997, Ana Friganovic became the first freshman and the second UNM player to compete in singles at the NCAA Championships. She is the only player in UNM women’s tennis history to compete at the NCAA’s in all four years with New Mexico. Friganovic was also the first player to compete in both singles and doubles at the national tournament in the same year (1999).
2004- Maja Kovacek became the third UNM women’s tennis player to compete in the singles portion of the NCAA Championships and only the second player to compete in both singles and doubles in one year.
Doubles History1999- Ana Friganovic and Joanne Shortall became the first UNM doubles team to participate at the NCAA Individual Championships.
2004- Maja Kovacek and Sandy Lukowski became UNM’s first women’s tennis doubles team to earn All-America honors after advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. They were eventually eliminated in the semifinals, making them the only Lobo pair to make it that far in the championship.
2005- Maja Kovacek was selected to compete as a singles player at the NCAA Championships for the second straight year as well as in doubles, making her the first Lobo to compete in NCAA singles and doubles competitions for two years straight.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS…After a successful 2006 season Lobo players move up in the UNM record books.
Most Career Wins – Singles4. Senior Maja Kovacek with (99) singles wins6. (Tied) Junior Iva Gersic with (80) singles wins
Most Career Wins – Doubles1. Senior Maja Kovacek with (112) doubles wins2. Junior Iva Gersic with (91) doubles wins
Most Combined Career Wins – Singles and Doubles1. Senior Maja Kovacek with (211) combined wins5. Junior Iva Gersic with (171) combined wins
Highest Career Winning Percentage – Minimum 60 Matches1. Junior Iva Gersic with a record of 171-40 (.810)3. Senior Maja Kovacek with a record of 211-81 (.722)
2005 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS…Kovacek is no stranger to the NCAA tournament as she was a participant in singles and doubles for the past two years. UNM’s biggest accomplishment came at the 2004 NCAA Championships when Kovacek and former Lobo player Sandy Lukowski’s doubles performances earned them All-America honors, a first for UNM women’s tennis. Here are the singles and doubles results from last year’s tournament:
Singles Round of 64-No. 45 Maja Kovacek (UNM) def. No. 72 Iryna Tkachenko (Oklahoma State) 6-3,7-5
Singles Round of 32-No. 14 Story Tweedie-Yates (TCU) def. No. 45 Maja Kovacek (UNM) 6-2,7-3(6)
Doubles Round of 32-No. 4 Daniela Bercek/Riza Zalameda (UCLA) def. No. 11 Maja Kovacek/Iva Gersic (UNM) 6-3,5-7,6-3.
MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK…Players from the New Mexico women’s tennis team have earned a total of three Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors this season with two of those being from doubles All-American Gersic.
Iva Gersic was awarded the following week on Feb. 23 after the Lobos defeated Oklahoma State and rival New Mexico State. Gersic teamed with doubles partner Maja Kovacek at the No. 1 spot as the 3rd ranked doubles team in the nation. Together they earned victories both matches, including the only UNM win in doubles against Oklahoma State. Gersic played at the No. 2 singles spot against New Mexico State and at the No. 1 singles spot with Oklahoma State winning both matches.
Gersic won her second award this season on March 23 after going undefeated in her four matches against No. 17 Pepperdine and No. 49 Sacramento State. Gersic defeated the No. 93 Sylvia Kosakowski earning New Mexico’s only match point against Pepperdine. She also led at the No. 1 singles spot to help UNM defeat Sacramento State. In doubles action the 3rd ranked duo of Gersic and Kovacek defeated Pepperdine’s No. 6 ranked tandem.