Two women’s tennis players made school history in their last match of the fall season by reaching the doubles finals of the 2006 ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships at Ohio State on Saturday.Senior Ana Cetnik and sophomore Anna Sydorska became TCU’s first female tennis players to reach the final match in a doubles national championship event when they defeated Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk of the Kentucky Wildcats in the semifinals of the tournament.
In the championship match, the Frogs lost 8-3 to Megan Moulton-Levy and Katarina Zoricic of the William and Mary Tribe, the No. 22-ranked team by the ITA, in an eight-game pro set.
“I was confident about the tournament,” Sydorska said. “Ana and I really understand each other on the court.”
In their first match of the tournament, Cetnik and Sydorska upset Notre Dame’s Catrina Thompson and Christian Thompson, the No. 1-ranked team in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Sydorska and Cetnik, who have been ranked No. 24 in the country since the start of the season by the ITA, finished with an 11-2 record as a doubles team.
Cetnik and Sydorska earned spots in the national indoor tournament by winning the Wilson/ITA Southwest Regional Championship at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center two weeks ago. The two also won the Baylor Invitational in Waco in August.
Both players said their ability to communicate and work together on the court was a factor in their success.
“We are so used to playing with each other,” Cetnik said. “I knew we could do very well.”
The tournament concluded the individual fall season for the women’s tennis team.
Interim head coach Jefferson Hammond said he is pleased with the performance of the team this season and that their goals for the spring are to be ranked No. 10 in the country by the ITA and to reach the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
The team will get almost a two-month break before their next tournament but will continue to have team and individual practices, Hammond said.
The spring season for the women’s tennis team will begin Feb. 1 with the National Team Indoor Championship in Madison, Wis.
