May 21, 2002

STANFORD, Calif. - Kansas State's Alena Jecminkova, ranked 95th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, closed out her four-year career as a Wildcat with a 6-3, 6-2 second-round loss to No. 24 Alice Pirsu of Pennsylvania in the NCAA Singles Tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University.

The Olomouc, Czech Republic, native matched Pirsu serve-for-serve in the opening part of the first set, but Pirsu broke Jecminkova's serve at 3-2. Jecminkova 4-3, but Pirsu won the next two games for the win. Jecminkova had her serve broken early in the second set at 2-1 and never recovered.

Jecminkova finished the season with an 18-13 overall record and a career mark of 65-48. Earlier Tuesday, Jecminkova became only the second Wildcat in the program's history to win a NCAA Tournament singles match and advance to the second round of the draw when she upset No. 22 Raquel Kops-Jones of California, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Yana Dorodnova reached the third round in the 1998 NCAA Championships as the only other 'Cat to advance past the first round.

Jecminkova is also 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 Dorodnova (1998) are the others.

Of the five Big 12 student-athletes in the NCAA Singles Tournament, Jecminkova and Texas' Vladka Uhlirova were the only student-athletes to reach the second round.