SLC Weekly Tennis Update
3/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 13, 2001
Southland Weekly Women's Tennis - March 13, 2001
Mavs On Six-Match Win Streak, Tied for First The Texas-Arlington Mavericks have hit a stride with four wins last week that extended their winning streak to six. UTA (7-5, 4-0) sits in first place in the Southland Conference tied with Texas-San Antonio (6-2, 4-0).
UTA began the week with a 7-0 shutout of Sam Houston State. The Mavs then went on the road and earned victories at Louisiana-Lafayette 5-2, McNeese State 7-0, and Stephen F. Austin 6-1. The win over ULL snapped the Ragin' Cajuns' seven-match winning streak. Junior Marie Stepanova, the Southland player of the week, paced UTA by not dropping a set in four matches at No. 2 singles. She also teamed with Jitka Vetrovcova at No. 2/3 doubles to beat the tandems at SHSU 8-0, at McNeese 8-2 and at SFA 8-3. Their only loss was a tough 8-7 decision to ULL.
UTSA picked up two Conference victories to stay undefeated with a 5-2 win at Southeastern Louisiana (6-3, 2-1) and a 7-0 trouncing of Nicholls State (3-7, 1-4). The Roadrunners have now won four consecutive matches. Sophomore Svenja Fuhrig went 1-1 at No. 1 singles and 2-0 in doubles in Southland play. A key match to anticipate is the March 25 meeting between UTSA and UTA in Arlington.
SLU went 3-1 with a pair of league wins and one loss. The Lady Lions downed Nicholls State 6-1 and Southern 7-0 before losing to UTSA 5-2 last Friday. They rebounded to blank Southwest Texas (1-9, 0-4) 7-0. Sophomore Anne Mette, playing at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles, was undefeated. She dropped only one set, coming from behind to defeat UTSA's Fuhrig 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Senior Amanda Tabisz was 2-0 at No. 1 singles for SFA (2-4, 1-1) as the Ladyjacks split their matches. Tabisz got the win 7-6 (0), 6-1 against Centenary's Mandy Yearwood. She then defeated UTA's Lisa Jackson, last year's Southland player of the year, 6-4, 7-6 (5) to give the Ladyjacks their only point in a 6-1 loss.
Louisiana-Monroe (5-8, 2-1) has won two in a row with victories over Lamar 5-2 and Texas-Pan American 5-0. Sophomore Melissa Vujovich went 2-0 at No. 4 singles without dropping a game against LU's Jennifer Wright and UTPA's Alana Breen.
Both Nicholls State and McNeese State (4-4, 1-1) earned SLC wins. The Lady Colonels downed SWT 5-2. The Cowgirls won a 5-2 decision over LU.
The Lady Cardinals, who are struggling with eight consecutive losses, had a bright spot in senior Alta Wentzel last week. She went 3-0 at No. 3 singles in three Southland matches, not dropping a set.
SHSU (2-9, 1-1) dropped three straight last week. The Bearkats fell to UTA and Abilene Christian, then lost the fight 4-3 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The match versus Wyoming was rained out.
Southland Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week - March 13, 2001
Marie Stepanova * Texas-Arlington * Jr * Prague, Czech Republic Helping Texas-Arlington to a 4-0 week, Marie Stepanova went 4-0 without dropping a set at No. 2 singles and 3-1 at No. 2/3 doubles. She started her straight set victories (three of them Southland wins) with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Sam Houston State, followed by wins over La.-Lafayette, McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin.
Also Nominated: Alta Wentzel, LU, Melissa Vujovich, ULM, Anne Mette, SLU, Amanda Tabisz, SFA, Svenja Fuhrig, UTSA.
Previous Winners: Karin Mohl, SLU (2/6), Yvonne Bresler, McN (2/13), Marketa Cizova, UTA (2/19), Anna Doan, SLU (2/26), Phyllis Wilunda, SLU (3/6). -SLC-
