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April 24, 2002

WACO, Texas -
#40 Baylor (17-7, 7-4) at Big 12 Tournament
at College Station, Texas - April 25-28
Baylor vs. winner Oklahoma State/Missouri
April 26 - 1 p.m.

The women's tennis team received a first round bye in the Big 12 Tournament by virtue of their fourth place league finish. The Bears, ranked No. 40, will take on the winner of the Oklahoma State/Missouri match. Oklahoma State is the tournament's fifth seed and Missouri is the No. 12 seed. The Cowgirls are 12-10 overall and finished league play at 6-5, while Missouri is 9-10 on the season and was 1-10 in Big 12 play. The Bears beat both teams, with a 5-2 win over Oklahoma State and a 4-3 victory at Missouri.

Women's Bracket
Thursday - April 25
10 a.m. - #8 Colorado vs. #9 Texas Tech, #5 Oklahoma State vs. #12 Missouri
1 p.m. - #6 Kansas State vs. #11 Iowa State, #7 Oklahoma vs. #10 Nebraska

Fri., April 26
10 a.m. - #1 Texas vs. winner Colorado/Texas Tech
1 p.m. - #4 Baylor vs. winner Oklahoma State/Missouri
4 p.m. - #3 Kansas vs. winner Kansas State/Iowa State
7 p.m. - #2 Texas A&M vs. winner Oklahoma/Nebraska

Sat., April 27
Noon - Semifinals
3 p.m. - Semifinals

Sun., April 28
1:00 - Championship

Kovac Named Preseason All-Big 12
Senior Katja Kovac was the only Baylor women's tennis player to receive preseason All-Big 12 honors in a vote of league coaches. Kovac, a native of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is currently ranked No. 52 nationally. She ended her fall season with a 12-5 record and made it to the finals of the ITA Regionals.

Baylor in the Rankings
The latest Omni Hotels Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, released Wed., April 24, saw the Baylor women's team drop seven spots to No. 40. In the ITA Top 100 individual rankings also released on April 24, two Lady Bears stayed in the rankings. Senior Katja Kovacmoved up to No. 52 from No. 61, while junior Vida Mulec moved up to No. 83 from No 89.

Head Coach Dave Luedtke
Baylor Head Coach Dave Luedtke is in his 15th season at the helm of the women's program. He has a career record of 211-135 at Baylor. Last season he guided the Bears to a third place Big 12 finish and to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. His teams have made six consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Academic All-Big 12
Junior Vida Mulec and senior Katja Kovac have been named Academic All-Big 12. Mulec was named to the first team for the second straight year, while Kovac earned second team honors. The academic all-league squad consists of 32 first team members with nine on the second team. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.2 or better grade point average, while the second team are those who have a 3.0 to 3.19 GPA.

Current Streaks
Senior Katja Kovac has the longest winning streak going in spring competition at seven matches.

Injury Report
Junior Vida Mulec played several matches with a broken left wrist. She suffered a fall in practice (3/21) and x-rays the next day showed the wrist was broken. Despite the injury, the two-fisted backhander, posted a victory over Texas' Joanne Masongsong (6-1, 3-6, 7-5) on Saturday. After further evaluation, it was determined that the wrist needed surgery. Mulec will be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Moving Up the Charts
Senior Katja Kovac improves the school record for career singles wins each time she wins a match. Currently Kovac is at 127 career wins. Frida Borjesson and Vida Mulec have also moved into the top 10 in career wins. Kovac moved into No. 1 in career doubles victories with two wins last week, putting her at 79. She surpassed Sophie Goldschmidt's 77 career doubles wins. In addition, Vida Mulec passed Goldschmidt in career singles wins with 80.

Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament
1997- #2 seed
QF - lost to #7 Oklahoma, 5-1

1998 - #4 seed
QF - lost to #5 Texas A&M, 5-3

1999 - #5 seed
1R - def. #12 Iowa State, 5-0
QF - def. #4 Texas A&M, 5-2
SF - lost to #1 Texas, 5-2

2000 - #2 seed
QF - def. #7 Kansas, 5-2
SF - def. #3 Texas A&M, 5-3
F - lost to #1 Texas, 5-0

2001 - #3 seed
QF - def. #6 Nebraska, 4-0
SF - lost to #2 Oklahoma State, 4-3

Baylor's Big 12 Honors
Coach of the Year
1997 - Dave Luedtke

Newcomer of the Year
1997 - Barbara Navarro

All-Big 12
Singles
1997 - Barbara Navarro
1999 - Katja Kovac, Jahnavi Parekh
2000 - Karja Kovac, Jahnavi Parekh
2001 - Katja Kovac

Doubles
1997 - Vanessa Abel/Carolyn McGrath
1999 - Katja Kovac/Jahnavi Parekh
2000 - Katja Kovac/Vida Mulec