WTennis Garners School Record Four ITA All-American Entries

[ER9TC4]

Women's Tennis Garners School Record Four Riviera/ITA All-American Selections

Mustangs also feature four ITA ranked singles players

DALLAS, Texas (SMU) - Set to begin its fall slate this weekend, the SMU Women's Tennis team has already made history before even taking the court. For the first time ever, the team has four singles players ranked in the fall ITA rankings and will also have a record four players compete in the 2010 Riviera/ITA All-American tournament.

"This is a very good accomplishment for our program," said head coach Lauren Longbotham-Meisner. "Each of these girls worked extremely hard last season and they are very deserving of these honors. This is also a testament to the strength of our program when you can have four of your top six players ranked. Our goal is to be able to compete with anyone in the country and I hope that we will continue to improve both as individuals and as a team this fall."

Junior Marta Lesniak enters the fall campaign ranked No. 22, the highest individual ranking for a Mustang player since 1993, and will begin the All-American event in the qualifying round. The native of Poland has a career singles record 43-8 and also played in the All-American tournament last fall where she went 3-1 while advancing to the Elite Eight.

Fellow junior Aleksandra Malyarchikova is ranked No. 95 to begin the season and will start the All-American tournament in the pre-qualifying round. Malyarchikova carries 39-6 singles record into her fall action.

Joining the junior duo in both the national rankings and the pre-qualifying round will be junior transfer Heather Steinbauer and sophomore Edyta Cieplucha.

Steinbauer, a transfer from Vanderbilt, is ranked No. 117 and will also pair with Lesniak in the pre-qualifying doubles at the All-American. Steinbauer and Lesniak are ranked No. 47 in the fall rankings.

Cieplucha went 18-2 during her rookie campaign on the Hilltop, playing only in the spring. She enters the fall season ranked No. 109.

Other members of the Mustang squad will begin the team's fall season this Friday at the Mean Green Invitational hosted by the University of North Texas in Denton. The team next plays at the OU Invitational in Norman, Okla., Sept. 24-26.

The Riviera/ITA All-American Championship begins October 2 at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The pre-qualifying rounds take place Oct. 2-3, followed by the qualifying rounds Oct. 5-6. The main draw for both singles and doubles take place Oct. 7-10. For more information, visit http://www.itatennis.com.

http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/w-te ... 10aab.html