April 16, 2009
Recap |
Final Stats
On dropping the doubles point and what that did to the momentum of the rest of the match
"Today, I felt we came out and played very flat in doubles. I think all of the girls were very aware that we lost 4-3 after winning the doubles point when we played them back in March. After losing the doubles point today, I think it definitely hurt our confidence. We were just extremely flat and couldn't get it together. When you get behind 1-0 to a team as talented as UCF, it's hard to recover. Unfortunately, it set the tone for today's match."
On if the 4-0 score was deceiving as to how close the match really was
"I don't think the score in reflective of the match that was played today. Anna (Bartenstein), Mariam (Kurdadze) and Marcela (Fonseca) were all about to win their (singles) matches. It was going to be a 4-3 match and it came down to that pesky doubles point. On a positive note, I thought Anna played a much better match this time against Jenny Frisell and Lindsay played a much tighter match against Andrea Yacaman than when we played them in March."
On being the No. 10 seed in the Conference USA Tournament
"It's hard to come to a conference tournament as a No. 10 seed when there are two teams in front of you that you had beaten earlier in the year and get a tough first round match like UCF. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. I don't think that any other match was going to be this intense in a first-round battle. It's unfortunate, but sometimes these things happen sometimes."
On her opinion of the 2009 season as a whole
"As far as the overall season goes, I'm very happy. I couldn't be more proud of the girls. We went 12-12 and played a very tough schedule. That is the one thing I'm proud of. We were 12-12 against some very talented, nationally-ranked programs. We took some losses but we had a plan from day one. We didn't think we were going to win conference in this first year. It is about getting better and I'm extremely proud of the way this team handled adversity throughout the year. We didn't have any seniority on the team. They didn't have anybody that they could look to as far as a peer or a teammate to tell them, `Hey, this is what's going to happen.' I think they did a really good job of just tightening their belt and playing. I can't complain at all. I would not have chosen any other eight girls to be on this first-year team."
On what the future holds for the Tulane women's tennis program
"Now, these girls have a year of collegiate experience under their belts and that is going to help guide them through next year. We've got two very talented freshmen coming in next year and they are going to be able to help us right away. We're excited about the future. Some of our upcoming plans are just to rest, regroup and a talk about ways that we're going to get better. Hindsight is always 20/20, and in these upcoming, end-of-the season meetings, we will go over a lot of things that we need to do over the summer to prepare for the fall season. The future is very bright for Tulane women's tennis. I know that."
On what Tulane takes from the loss
"It's hard to lose in the first round of the conference tournament, but at the same time, we had a very respectable 12-12 year. Being the 10th seed in the tournament was tough because we got a very tough first round. But I'm proud to say that even though we were the No. 10 seed, there were teams in front of us that we beat and there were teams that played a much softer schedule who got higher seeds. I wouldn't have done it any other way. What this does is fuel us for next year. This stung really bad today to lose what looked like a 4-0 match. Really, it was a 4-3 match. I thought we did a good job this season on a whole."
