Oct. 21, 2001

Waco, Texas - Baylor senior Katja Kovac has advanced to the finals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Southwest Regional in Fort Worth. Kovac won the tournament singles title last season. Also, this is the fourth time in the last five years that Baylor has had a player in the singles finals.

Kovac, seeded second in the tournament, defeated seventh seed Katrin Graber of TCU, 6-4, 7-6, in the semifinals to advance to the finals. She will play Houston's Sarah Borwell, the tournament's No. 3 seed, on Monday, Oct. 22 at 10:00 a.m. for the championship. Borwell defeated the tournament's top-seed Vladka Uhlirova of Texas 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the final round. Baylor's Vida Mulec and Frida Borjesson each lost their quarterfinal match.

In semifinal doubles, Kovac and Vida Mulec, seeded No. 1, lost to Leah Killen and Martina Nedorsotova of Texas A&M, 8-2, thus ending their championship bid.

"I was very proud of all three girls' (Kovac, Mulec, Borjesson) efforts today. Their fight, resiliency, effort and focus was incredible," said coach Dave Luedtke. "With Katja being the defending champion, there was incredible pressure on her today, especially since both of her matches were against TCU players (TCU is the tournament host)."

Sunday Singles Results
Quarterfinals
(3)Sarah Borwell (Houston) def. (5)Vida Mulec (BU) 6-2, 6-4, 7-5
(1)Vladka Uhlirova (Texas) def. (11)Frida Borjesson (BU) 6-1, 6-3
(2)Katja Kovac (BU) def. (32)Leoni Weirich (TCU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Semifinals
(2) Kovac def. (7)Katrin Graber (TCU) 6-4, 7-6

Saturday Doubles
Quarterfinals
(8)Leah Killen/Martina Nedorostova (Texas A&M) def. (1)Kovac/Mulec (BU) 8-2