Women's tennis wins third straight MAC title
May 1, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- Western Michigan University's women's tennis team won its third consecutive Mid-American Conference title, but failed to gain a third straight berth in the NCAA tournament.
With a 6-1 victory over Northern Illinois on April 20, WMU completed the regular season with a record of 14-7 overall, 7-0 in the MAC. Beginning with this season in MAC men's and women's tennis, the conference championship was determined by the team with the best regular season record. The automatic berth in the NCAA tournament went to the team that won the MAC tournament.
In the Mid-American Conference tournament, held April 26-29 at Marshall University, No. 1 seeded WMU defeated Toledo, 4-0, in the quarterfinals, but fell, 4-2, versus Eastern Michigan in the semi-finals. WMU had advanced to the NCAA tournament each of the previous two seasons.
Frederika Girsang, a freshman from Jakarta, Indonesia, and junior Larissa Chinwah from Sydney, Australia, were named to the All-MAC First Team for the 2001 season. Girsang was also named "Newcomer of the Year" in the conference.
Girsang joined the Broncos after the fall portion of the season. She was 15-6 overall in singles, including a 12-3 mark at No. 2 singles. She was 8-1 in MAC singles competition. Girsang was 16-4 overall in doubles competition and 7-1 in MAC doubles play.
Chinwah earned conference first team honors for the third straight season. She played at the No. 1 singles and doubles spots for all but one match this season. Chinwah compiled a record of 28-7 overall and 5-2 MAC in singles competition and was 16-16 overall and 7-1 MAC in doubles.
Head coach Betsy Kuhle earned her seventh MAC title as Bronco coach. That mark ties her with former volleyball coach Rob Buck for most conference titles among women's sports coaches at Western Michigan. Her seven MAC titles also places her fourth overall among all WMU coaches.
For more information, visit the Broncos on the Web at <www.wmubroncos.com>.
Media contact: Travis McCurdy, 616 387-3221, travis.mccurdy@wmich.edu