May 2, 2002

MANHATTAN, Kan. - For the third consecutive season, Kansas State's Alena Jecminkova received an individual bid to the 64-player NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Singles Championships, to be held May 10-25, the NCAA announced on Thursday. Regionals will be at campus sites on May 10-12 and the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be May 16-25 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

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 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.

Jecminkova is the first player in Wildcat history to qualify for three NCAA Singles Championships and she is just the third Kansas State player ever to qualify for the tournament. Karina Kuregian (1995) and Yana Dorodnova (1998) are 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. Cheng finished the season ranked No. 37.

Two Big 12 Conference schools made the team championships, No. 9 Texas and No. 20 Texas A&M. Jecminkova is also one of five Big 12 players to make the singles field (Linda Faltynkova of Oklahoma State, Katja Kovac of Baylor, Anda Perianu of Oklahoma and Vladka Uhlirova of Texas). Three league teams were selected for doubles play (Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State).

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