SUN BELT CONFERENCE TENNIS WEEKLY RELEASE • JUNE 9, 2014 Contact: Randy Lieberman • [email protected] • 504-556-0872 TERE-APISAH FINISHES HISTORIC RUN IN WOMEN’S SINGLES SEMIFINALS 2014 SUN BELT CONFERENCE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS ATHENS, Ga. – An historic season came to an end for Georgia State women’s WOMEN’S MEN’S tennis as Abigail Tere-Apisah fell one win short of playing for the national THURSDAY, APRIL 17 FRIDAY, APRIL 18 title when she lost to Cal’s Lynn Chi in the tiebreaker of the third set 6-3, #8 UL Lafayette 4, #9 WKU 0 #4 UT Arlington 4, #5 Troy 1 4-6, 7-6(2) on Sunday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. By playing in the #3 Georgia State 4, #6 WKU 0 national semifinals, GSU’s second two-time All-American recorded the high- FRIDAY, APRIL 18 est NCAA postseason finish by a Panther in school history. #1 Georgia State 4, #8 UL Lafayette 0 SATURDAY, APRIL 19 #4 Troy 4, #5 Texas State 3 #1 UL Lafayette 4, #4 UT Arlington 1 Tere-Apisah had earned a reputation of starting slow at the NCAA Champi- #3 South Alabama 4, #6 UL Monroe 2 #2 South Alabama 4, #3 Georgia State 0 onship this week, and Sunday was no different. Chi broke Tere-Apisah’s serve #2 UT Arlington 4, #7 Arkansas State 0 early and often, jumping ahead 4-0 and cruising to the first-set victory. SUNDAY, APRIL 20 SATURDAY, APRIL 19 #1 UL Lafayette 4, #2 South Alabama 2 “She’s a tough player. I just had to stay out with her. The weather was super #1 Georgia State 4, #4 Troy 0 hot too, but I came out and tried my best,” Tere-Apisah said. “I got behind in #2 UT Arlington 3, #3 South Alabama 4 Coach of the Year: Mark Jeffrey, UL Lafayette the first set again, and even the third set too, but I played pretty well. I felt like I earned some points. I’m just happy I came that far. Before coming to SUNDAY, APRIL 20 this match, I said I need to start strong this time. Once again, it didn’t happen.” #1 Georgia State 4, #3 South Alabama 1 The two-time Sun Belt Player of the Year, Tere-Apisah roared back in the second. After trailing 2-1, she came alive to Coach of the Year: Robin Stephenson, Georgia State secure five of the next six points and send it to the third set. She noted that the fan support from the Georgia State 2014 NCAA MEN’S & WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS faithful in the stands really pushed her Sunday. WOMEN’S - CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL MEN’S - AUSTIN REGIONAL After tying the match at 1-1, Tere-Apisah again found herself in a familiar position – trailing early as the start of the May 9: #64 Georgia State 4, #31 Tennessee 3 May 9: #18 Mississippi State 4, #61 UL Lafayette 0 third. Tere-Apisah lost the first three games of the final set before winning two service games and breaking Chi in May 10: #7 North Carolina 4, #64 Georgia State 0 between to knot the score at 3-3. 2014 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE TEAMS The drama continued down the stretch as neither player could gain control. Tere-Apisah went ahead 5-4 and had the serve for the match only to see Chi rally for the tying point. Chi did it one final time trailing 6-5 as she broke WOMEN’S FIRST TEAM SINGLES MEN’S FIRST TEAM SINGLES Tere-Apisah to pull even at 6-all and force the tiebreaker where Chi won the final five points to claim a spot in the Abigail Tere-Apisah (Georgia State) Jannis Koeke (Georgia State) national title match on Monday. Medy Blankvoort (UL Monroe) Rick De Groot (UL Lafayette) Laura Valkova (South Alabama) Daniel Leitner (South Alabama) With the loss, Tere-Apisah ended her Panther playing days with school records for wins in a career (87) and in a Elizabeth Thoms (UT Arlington) Tuki Jacobs (South Alabama) single season (32). She was an All-American in 2012 and 2014, and was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year each Jessica Kahts (Texas State) Carlos Arbiza (UT Arlington) of her final two seasons. On May 9, she helped Georgia State to its biggest upset in school history as it defeated No. Trang Huynh (Troy) Gabriel Sciacca Dias (Troy) 31 Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Team Championship, the first time a Panther women’s team advanced in NCAA postseason play in any sport. WOMEN’S SECOND TEAM SINGLES MEN’S SECOND TEAM SINGLES Tamara Slijepcevic (Arkansas State) Hunter Johnson (UL Lafayette) “I don’t know if you can put it into words what she has meant to Georgia State,” Stephenson said. Linn Timmermann (Georgia State) Edgar Lopez (UL Lafayette) Petra Horakova (UL Monroe) Jake Wynan (UL Lafayette) With her collegiate eligibility finished, Tere-Apisah will now look to take her game to the professional courts. Monica Mitta (South Alabama) Shayann Vaezzadeh (South Alabama) Stephenson believes there is plenty left for the Papua New Guinea native to achieve at the next level. Angeles de los Rios (UT Arlington) Daniel Armengol (UT Arlington) Anja Cosovic (Troy) Daniel Bustamante (Troy) “She can only get better,” Stephenson said with a hint of awe in her voice. “Honestly, her ceiling is pretty high. She still has a lot of things she can improve on, which is scary. She can get a lot better and I really strongly believe she WOMEN’S FIRST TEAM DOUBLES MEN’S FIRST TEAM DOUBLES can do very well professionally. She has the game for it, the mentality for it; she can do very well at the next level.” Abigail Tere-Apisah/Masa Grgan (Georgia State) Robert Schulze/Sofiane Chevallier (Georgia State) Marcia Tere-Apisah/Tarani Kamoe (Georgia State) Rick De Groot/Jake Wynan (UL Lafayette) Much of that future success will be built on a foundation that was solidified in downtown Atlanta and with the Trang Huynh/Anja Cosovic (Troy) Carlos Arbiza/Javier Perez (UT Arlington) Georgia State program, according to Tere-Apisah. WOMEN’S SECOND TEAM DOUBLES MEN’S SECOND TEAM DOUBLEs “I feel like I’ve improved so much since I’ve been at Georgia State,” Tere-Apsiah said. “Being a senior in my last Monica Mitta/Laura Valkova (South Alabama) Damian Farinola/Edgar Lopez (UL Lafayette) tournament, I just wanted to come out and play. If it meant stay out five hours on the court, I was willing to do that. Emily Newton/Michaela Meszarosova (South Alabama) Manuel Belda/Gerhard Gruindelingh (South Alabama) But four years here at Georgia State, it’s been amazing. I’m truly going to miss it.” Jessica Kahts/Ana Laura Gutierrez (Texas State) Austin Robles/Daniel Armengol (UT Arlington) ITA NATIONAL/REGIONAL RANKINGS Player of the Year: Abigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State Player of the Year: Daniel Leitner, South Alabama MEN’S NATIONAL RANKINGS WOMEN’S NATIONAL RANKINGS PLAYER OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE TEAM (as of May 27) TEAM (as of May 27) UL Lafayette - #63 Georgia State - #55 WEEK 1 • FEBRUARY 5 WEEK 6 • MARCH 12 SINGLES (as of June 4) MAOW > Daniel Leitner, South Alabama MAOW > Jannis Koeke, Georgia State DOUBLES (as of June 4) Abigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State - #15 WAOW > Abigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State WAOW > Laura Valkova, South Alabama Javier Perez/Carlos Arbiza, UT Arlington - #84 DOUBLES (as of June 4) Abigail Tere-Apisah/Masa Grgan, Georgia State - #23 WEEK 2 • FEBRUARY 12 WEEK 7 • MARCH 19 MEN’S REGIONAL RANKINGS MAOW > Jannis Koeke, Georgia State MAOW > Tuki Jacobs, South Alabama TEAM (as of June 4) Monica Mitta/Laura Valkova, South Alabama - #83 WAOW > Abigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State WAOW > Jessica Kahts, Texas State Georgia State - #9 Southeast UL Lafayette - #6 Southern WOMEN’S REGIONAL RANKINGS WEEK 3 • FEBRUARY 19 WEEK 8 • MARCH 26 South Alabama - #8 Southern TEAM (as of June 4) MAOW > Carl Alberton, UL Lafayette MAOW > Gabriel Sciacca Dias, Troy Georgia State - #7 Southeast WAOW > Abigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State WAOW >Trang Huynh, Troy SINGLES (as of June 4) South Alabama - #8 Southern Hunter Johnson, UL Lafayette - #12 Southern UT Arlington - #10 Texas WEEK 4 • FEBRUARY 26 WEEK 9 • APRIL 2 Daniel Leitner, South Alabama - #13 Southern SINGLES (as of June 4) MAOW > Carlos Arbiza, UT Arlington MAOW >Daniel Armengol, UT Arlington Gabriel Sciacca Dias, Troy - #19 Southern Abigail Tere-Apisah, Georgia State - #3 Southeast Co-WAOW > Tere-Apisah (GSU), Huynh (TROY) WAOW > Trang Huynh, Troy Shayann Vaezzadeh, South Alabama - #20 Southern Trang Huynh, Troy - #15 Southern DOUBLES (as of June 4) WEEK 5 • MARCH 5 WEEK 10 • APRIL 9 DOUBLES (as of June 4) Tere-Apisah/Grgan, Georgia State - #5 Southeast Co-MAOW > Johnson (ULL), Koeke (GSU) MAOW > Robert Schulze, Georgia State Athare/Ghorbel, Troy - #9 Mitta/Valkova - #8 Southern WAOW >Laura Valkova, South Alabama WAOW > Elizabeth Thoms, UT Arlington SUN BELT CONFERENCE TENNIS GEORGIA STATE WOMEN’S TENNIS MAKES HISTORY AT NCAA’S, EARNS SCHOOL’S FIRST NCAA TOURNAMENT WIN BY A FEMALE TEAM CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – With a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 31 Tennessee on Friday, the No. 64 Georgia State women’s tennis team became the first female program in school history to win in the NCAA tournament. Panther female teams had made eight previous appearances in NCAA play but none had won until Chaimaa Roudami won the third set at No. 6 singles Friday to clinch the deciding point. Roudami, a junior from Morocco, sealed the win in stylish fashion, holding on to defeat Ambika Pande in three sets, the only match to go the distance on Friday.