Oct. 26, 2002
University of Missouri tennis star Urska Juric qualified for the NCAA Indoor Tennis Championships in Dallas by advancing to the singles finals at the Omni Hotels Tennis Central Region Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma today. Juric and Tiger teammates Katka Sevcikova and Mary Barry earned automatic bids into the main singles draw. Barry and Sevcikova lost their opening round matches but Juric has won five consecutive matches to advance to the finals to be played tomorrow. Juric beat Maja Kovacek of New Mexico 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, then she ousted Kate Lutgert from Colorado 6-1, 6-2. Juric's hot streak continued as she defeated Kate Vasvlya of Oklahoma State 6-0, 6-1. Today Juric beat Jamina Hayward of Boise State and Anda Perianu from Oklahoma to reach the final. Reaching the finals qualifies Juric for the indoor championships. This performance comes on the heels of Juric making it to the main draw at the Riviera All-American Championships two weeks afo. Tiger head coach Blake Starkey said, "This is huge. Some coaches coach for 25 years and never get a player to even qualify for this tournament. What Urska is doing is just amazing."
The Tigers doubles team of Juric and Sevcikova are looking to defend their Regional Championship doubles title they won last year. They will strive to do just that when they play in the semifinals tomorrow. Juric and Sevcikova had a bye in the first round and beat Patricia Chien and Katie Gyulia of Wyoming 8-1. In the round of 16 the tandem defeated Michelle Heidbrink and Tiffany Robertson of New Mexico 8-1. Today they beat Alissa Avling and Reneta Stoop of Boise State. If the two win the doubles they will head to Dallas for the indoor championships