2008 Woodie Awards
Champions!
Women's tennis advances to NCAA championship
Arianna Ranahosseini
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Sports
After an impressive 22-2 season, the No. 28 women's tennis team earned the Sun Belt Conference's automatic berth to the NCAA championships after defeating No. 51 three-time defending champions Florida International 4-3 in Monroe, La., on Sunday.
Denver finished third in the SBC championship last season after a 4-0 loss to South Alabama, followed by a 4-2 victory against Troy.
"We worked so hard last year to build such a great foundation for this year," said Head Coach Amy Jensen. "We improved 10 spots in the national rankings and missed the NCAA?tourney by one spot. We lost 2 seniors, Sackmaster and Mechem, who gave this program so much spirit and set the tone as far as commitment goes. The younger girls have carried on that tradition this year and even taken it to another level. It has been a total team effort."
Junior Mallory Voelker was named the championship MVP after going undefeated in singles play during the tournament.
"The most important thing is always the team, and we are so excited to win that as well, but to win the individual award was great too. I'm very happy to receive it," Voelker said.
"It's all just been a dream to all of us it's been one of our biggest goals and to finally accomplish it is really amazing, we are all stoked," said Voelker.
The Pioneers will enter the championships with a seven-match winning streak.
Denver defeated Middle Tennessee 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the SBC championship on Saturday morning, followed by a 4-1 victory against Louisiana-Lafayette later Saturday afternoon.
Saturday morning, the top-seeded Pioneers swept the quarterfinals as No. 53 Voelker and sophomore Julia Bauregger defeated Middle-Tennessee's Stephanie Parkison and Marlene Chemin 8-3. Junior Annette Aksdal and freshman Bhavani Tirumurti secured the point with an 8-4 victory over the Blue Raiders' Pooja Kommireddi and Shannon Hartmann.
"Even though we were the tops seeds, we felt more like the underdogs as we knew FIU were a tough and experienced team who were used to dominating?SBC's in the last few years," Jensen said. "They played very confidently but our girls were not rattled. They really trusted in themselves, in each other, and in their preparation."
Denver finished third in the SBC championship last season after a 4-0 loss to South Alabama, followed by a 4-2 victory against Troy.
"We worked so hard last year to build such a great foundation for this year," said Head Coach Amy Jensen. "We improved 10 spots in the national rankings and missed the NCAA?tourney by one spot. We lost 2 seniors, Sackmaster and Mechem, who gave this program so much spirit and set the tone as far as commitment goes. The younger girls have carried on that tradition this year and even taken it to another level. It has been a total team effort."
Junior Mallory Voelker was named the championship MVP after going undefeated in singles play during the tournament.
"The most important thing is always the team, and we are so excited to win that as well, but to win the individual award was great too. I'm very happy to receive it," Voelker said.
"It's all just been a dream to all of us it's been one of our biggest goals and to finally accomplish it is really amazing, we are all stoked," said Voelker.
The Pioneers will enter the championships with a seven-match winning streak.
Denver defeated Middle Tennessee 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the SBC championship on Saturday morning, followed by a 4-1 victory against Louisiana-Lafayette later Saturday afternoon.
Saturday morning, the top-seeded Pioneers swept the quarterfinals as No. 53 Voelker and sophomore Julia Bauregger defeated Middle-Tennessee's Stephanie Parkison and Marlene Chemin 8-3. Junior Annette Aksdal and freshman Bhavani Tirumurti secured the point with an 8-4 victory over the Blue Raiders' Pooja Kommireddi and Shannon Hartmann.
"Even though we were the tops seeds, we felt more like the underdogs as we knew FIU were a tough and experienced team who were used to dominating?SBC's in the last few years," Jensen said. "They played very confidently but our girls were not rattled. They really trusted in themselves, in each other, and in their preparation."
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