Women’s tennis team best finish
Not only did the University of Denver’s women’s tennis team finish second in the Sun Belt Championship, but also Head Coach Dana Young was named Sun Belt Conference Women’s Coach of the Year.
Young became the head coach of DU women’s tennis team three years ago after being an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota.
Young led the Pioneers to their best record and best SBC tournament finish since DU became a NCAA Division I member in 1998-99.
Under her guidance, the team has gone from ninth in the SBC tournament to second.
“I was just happy about how well the team did,” said Young after hearing of her award. “And the team did well!”
Young attributes the second place finish to the effort of the entire team.
“In every match people stepped up,” Young said.
Young was especially pleased with the performances by Yanick Dullens, who sealed the final point in the first two matches, and Jenny Trettin, who won her first two matches.
The entire season was a success for the team.
The team ended with the best record since its entry into the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference, 15-7. Young credits the team’s accomplishments to team effort.
“Everyone competed hard each match,” Young said. “They truly believed we could win each match.”
Young was especially impressed with the newcomers on the team, particularly by Trettin and Suzie Maksovic.
“They competed well the entire season,” Young said.
The team’s number one singles player Dullens helped lead the team this season. Dullens ended the season with 18-5 record.
“Every team has good number one players. It is a very challenging position to play and she played well there all season. She had a lot of big wins,” Young said.
The number two and three singles players, Maksovic and Trettin, also finished the season with impressive numbers. Maksovic rounded out the season with a 17-1 record and Trettin ended with a 22-11 record.
Although the team will lose two seniors, there will be three new players joining the team.
“I am sad to lose the two seniors, but I am really excited about the new players coming in,” Young said.
Men drop first round match, win next two to finish fifth
The University of Denver men’s tennis team ended its season with a fifth place finish at the Sun Belt Men’s Tennis Championships.
The win over Arkansas-Little Rock in the final match of the tournament left the Pioneers with a 16-10 record for the season.
Although Head Coach Geoff Young said the team could have performed better, particularly in the doubles matches, he nonetheless was “pleased to come home after beating a good team pretty handily.”
Junior Urban Ljubic, the team’s number one singles player, won his game in the tournament.
Singles players Nejc Smole, Hans Peter Gaber, Jason Tan, and Colin Day, also won their respective matches against Arkansas to seal the fifth-place finish for the Pioneers.
“Everyone played pretty hard. It was a team effort,” Young said.
The Sunbelt tournaments ended the season for the Pioneers and left the team with a better record than last year.
Young attributes much of the team’s success this season to the players’ competitive attitude.
“They all practice hard. We had very few let-downs,” Young said. He had special praise for Ljubic. “He played the number one spot, which is the most difficult position and he had a great year.”
Ljubic finished the tournament with a come from behind win to have a season record of 22-10.
In addition, Smole had a winning season in the number two spot and ended the season with a 23-9 record.
Gaber, a junior, polished off the season with the best record on the team, with 24 wins and just nine losses.
The young team has an even better shot at the championships next season.
The Pioneer men’s tennis team does not have a lot of prospects for next season, although they do have a few players hoping to break into the team’s line-up.
However, no senior player is graduating this year, so the team should be in full force and better than ever when next season rolls around.
“We want to do better than we did this year in the Sun Belt Conference and move up as far as wins and losses. Most of all, we just want to become better tennis players,” Coach Young said about next season.
