May 2, 2002

MANHATTAN, Kan. - After garnering three all-conference awards in as many years, Kansas State's Alena Jecminkova was named Big 12 Tennis Player of the Year as announced by the Big 12 Conference.

Jecminkova, who played No. 1 singles, posted an overall record of 17-12 this season, including 8-3 in the Big 12 and 13-7 in dual matches. She is currently ranked No. 95 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national rankings, released May 1.

Jecminkova's key victory this year was an upset of then-No. 8 Mariel Verban of Georgia, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at the Georgia Bulldog Fall Invitational. She also had wins over Jessica Roland of Texas A&M, Dominique Olszewski of Oklahoma State and Gitte Ostermann of Nebraska, all of whom were ranked during the season.

The senior from Olomouc, Czech Republic, was an All-Big 12 selection in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Jecminkova will be looking to extend her collegiate career when the NCAA announces the 64-player NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Singles Championship field on Thursday. Jecminkova is looking to be the first player in Wildcat history to qualify for three NCAA Singles Championships. She is just the third Kansas State player ever to qualify for the tournament with Karina Kuregian (1995) and Yana Dorodnova (1998) being the others. Jecminkova lost to Colleen Cheng of Northwestern, 7-5, 6-2 in the opening round of last year's tournament in Stone Mountain, Ga. She finished the season ranked No. 86, while Cheng was No. 37.

Kansas State, which is currently ranked No. 49, has a 12-9 overall record, including a 6-5 league mark and finished in sixth place in the Big 12 Conference.