Sept. 19, 2001

Waco, Texas - Baylor tennis players Katja Kovac and Vida Mulec are ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Preseason Top 100 it was announced recently. Kovac checks in at No. 25 while Mulec is ranked No. 63.

Kovac, a junior from Ljubljana, Slovenia, finished the season last year with a 35-13 singles record and earned All-American honors. She is Baylor's career singles leader with 99 victories and her 35 wins last year ranks her No. 2 on Baylor's single season victory list.

Mulec hails from Maribor, Slovenia and is a junior this season. She finished last year ranked No. 91 after posing a 26-14 record playing at No. 3 singles.

In addition, Kovac and Mulec are ranked No. 21 as a doubles team.

In 2000-01 the Lady Bears finished the season at 22-7, received a top 16 seed to the NCAA Tournament and ranked #18 nationally at season's end for the program's highest final ranking. Six players return off last season's highly successful squad and are joined by five newcomers this season.

"Katja's No. 25 ranking is very deserving for someone having as consistent a year as she had last year. This shows her hard word and commitment, " said Baylor women's tennis head coach Dave Luedtke. "However, I know she will not rest on that ranking." According to Luedtke, "Vida has tremendous potential. She just needs to play with consistency match-in and match-out and she's working on that."