The TCU men’s tennis team was honored with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) All-Academic Team Award Monday. In addition to the team milestone, three Horned Frogs were named ITA Scholar-Athletes for standout work in the classroom.

TCU received the ITA’s All-Academic Team Award for the second straight year, and only the second time in program history, after exceeding the minimum cumulative team grade-point average requirement of 3.20 (on a 4.00 scale) during the fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters. All eligible student-athletes who competed in at least one varsity match during the academic year factored into the team GPA figure.

Leading TCU’s academic efforts were three student-athletes named ITA Scholar-Athletes for the second consecutive year in Kelubia Mabatah, Cameron Nash and Zach Nichols. The honor was awarded to only those players who posted a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 over the two semesters while earning a varsity letter.

Each of the three Frogs are accomplished scholar-athletes, having also been honored by the Mountain West Conference earlier this summer with academic honors. Nash added the prestigious Clark Scholarship to his resume in the spring, an honor given to only three TCU students each year.

Four members of the TCU women’s tennis squad were named 2010 ITA Scholar-Athletes, the ITA announced Monday.

Maria Babanova, Gaby Mastromarino, Shalini Sahoo and Katariina Touhimaa all earned the distinction for the first time in their Frog careers.

Babanova and Touhimaa will be seniors when the semester commences on Aug. 23, while Mastromarino and Sahoo will be juniors.

In addition to the ITA Scholar-Athlete honor, Babanova, Matromarino and Touhimaa were named to the Academic All-Mountain West Conference team in the spring.

To be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, the athlete must be a varsity letter winner, have a grade point average of at least 3.50 and have been enrolled at the current school for at least two semesters.

Smith, who spent a semester at Miami (Fla.), will be eligible to compete for the Frogs in the spring semester.

The Bath, England, native brings an impressive junior resume with her to TCU, along with a WTA singles ranking that has climbed as high as No. 908 and a WTA doubles ranking as high as No. 776.

Smith was a national doubles champion during her junior playing days in England. Her team ability should help the Frogs in doubles play, considered to be one of the strengths of the team for next season.

“We’re really excited to pick up a player of Olivia’s caliber two or three weeks into the recruiting process,” Borelli said. “She has a reputation as a great kid on and off the tennis court and she’s exactly what we’re looking for in an athlete.”

The Frogs are set to kick off the fall portion of the 2010-2011 season Sept. 17 at the Racquet Club Invitational in Midland, Texas.

Bara, a native of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, ranked among the best players in her home country. In 2010 , Bara earned a U18 Junior Ontario ranking as high as 12th, while being ranked 22nd among all U18 juniors in Canada. She also earned a No. 19 Women’s Open ranking in Canada.

“We are excited to introduce Aya to the Baylor Nation,” Scrivano said. “It was incredible to find a student-athlete of her ability still available this late in the summer.” I believe she is a diamond in the rough and can contribute a lot to the program as she develops and gains experience. Aya is an extremely gifted young lady on and off the court who fits our programs high standards of academic and athletic achievement.”

Bara was a multiple-time winner in three-star events in Ontario, while also enjoying success at the four- and five-star levels. She was a doubles finalist at the five-star U14 Provincials in 2006, then made the finals at the four-star U18 OTA Masters in 2008 and the Monterrey ITF G5 doubles in 2009.

Bara will join three previous signees, including Georgia State transfer Diana Nakic, Armstrong Atlantic State transfer Sona Novakova and fellow incoming freshman Cristina Danaila.

Today at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, where the U.S.Open National Playoffs are being held, Colin Hoover, defeated University of Kentucky’s Eric Quigley, 63 63. Interesting enough, Hoover will now face for University of Texas player, Olivier Sajous of Haiti, in the quarterfinals.

Hoover dominated Quigley in one hour and eight minutes. The stat thrown around in press releases was how efficient Hoover was, winning 87% of his first serve points. That’s quality tennis.

How far can Colin go? Who knows?

Sajous is not the same player he was in Austin. He never came through with the goods, until the NCAAs… and we all know about that. If not, here’s a refresher. Of course, now playing on his own and with his native Haiti in shambles, Olivier has been playing the best tennis of his life. The winner likely gets Blake Strode, but at this point, they are all quality opponents.

Here is some from the A&M release…

“I was very excited and a little bit overwhelmed at the start of the match,” Hoover said. “We were playing on Court 2, right behind the stadium court. Andy Roddick was playing at the same time so you could hear `Game Roddick’. That’s the kind of stuff you dream about when you grow up wanting to play tennis.”

Then facing Eric who played at #1 for Kentucky was very challenging,” Hoover continued. “He is a very good player and I had, and still have, a lot of respect for him and his game. We both broke each other early in the first set and then things settled down and I was able to break him at 4-3 and finish off the first set.”

In the second set, I had to fight back in the final game to get it to deuce and then he hit a backhand into the net on a long rally to finish off the match,” Hoover explained. “I felt like I was prepared and had a good game plan. I didn’t want to get too fancy, I just wanted to play solid.”

Quigley ended the year ranked #10 in the collegiate ITA rankings and was an All-American for the University of Kentucky and a USTA Summer Collegiate Team member.

This is a career-changer for Hoover. Now he KNOWS he can compete with the big guys on the big stage–as far as collegiate tennis is concerned. He is a great kid and has worked his butt off to get where he is.

JOPLIN $10k

Down at the Joplin $10k, Josh Zavala and Jean Andersen have reached the final of the doubles. The duo beat a bunch of guys with hyphens in their names and will face Paul Todd and Maciek Sykut in the finals. They topped Keith-Patrick Crowley and Antonio Ruiz-Rosales, 64 76 in the semifinals.

In other news, Texas had four players reach the main draw in singles. Chris Camillone, Josh Zavala and Ben Chen all qualied into the main draw. Then Chen and Jean Andersen each won a match. Both lost in the second round.

ITA SUMMER CIRCUIT

I will post a complete update of this later. There have been some great results throughout the state and I will update them all next week. Players from Texas colleges have won events across the country.

A national search has begun for Borelli’s replacement as head coach of the TCU men’s program.

“I am excited about the opportunity for a return to coaching the women’s team,” Borelli said. “While it is hard to leave the men’s program, I feel that team is in a much better situation than when I took over in 2006. I think the program is on solid ground and has an opportunity to feature its best team in several years this upcoming season.

“I really believe we can build a national-championship contender in the TCU women’s tennis program.”

Borelli will be returning to the role that saw him already log a distinguished career by the time he took over the reigns of the Frog men’s program. He owns a 374-75 record in 18 seasons as a women’s head coach, including a 72-30 mark in four seasons with TCU from 2002 through 2006. Accomplishments in the world of women’s tennis have earned him a spot in the Intercollegiate Women’s Tennis Hall of Fame. He will become only the third male coach ever enshrined by the organization Nov. 13 in Williamsburg, Va.

“Dave is a Hall of Fame coach and a great fit at TCU,” Del Conte said. “He has been an ambassador for our tennis programs.

“We achieved tremendous success with Dave previously at the helm of our women’s team. We share his vision and high expectations for the program.”

Borelli improved the final national ranking of the TCU women’s team in each of his last three seasons and led the squad to its most successful season in program history with a No. 15 rating and NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2005-06, his final season as head coach. He earned three major awards in his final two seasons, including Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Region Coach of the Year in 2005 and conference coach of the year in 2005 (Conference USA) and 2006 (Mountain West Conference).

A 1974 graduate of USC, Borelli began his career as women’s head coach for the Trojans, going 302-45 with seven national championships from 1974 through 1988. USC players combined to win five individual national championships in singles and one in doubles under his guidance, and he was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 1981.

Borelli, whose overall career record stands at 428-120 in 21 seasons, recently completed his fourth season with the TCU men by leading the squad to the Mountain West Conference tournament championship and the team’s 19th NCAA tournament appearance in the last 20 years. The Frog men totaled four MWC titles overall (two regular season, two tournament) under Borelli’s tutelage.

Prior to arriving at TCU, Borelli served as the men’s professional tour coach for the USTA. He was in charge of the rookie pro program for USA player development.

“We are thrilled to have Diana and Cristina join the Baylor tennis family, and I know that can’t wait to wear the Green and Gold,” Scrivano said. “They both bring in the type of talent that will make an impact and help this program reach its goals. With each of them being left-handed, they will also bringing an added dimension to our team.”

Nakic, who will enter as a junior, comes to Baylor after a fantastic two-year stretch at Georgia State University. The Velenje, Slovenia, native compiled a 29-2 record during her time at GSU, including a 15-4 record as a freshman with a ranking as high as No. 65 and a 20-1 record as a sophomore. During her sophomore campaign, Nakic had a perfect 17-0 dual-match record in the No. 1 position for the Panthers and reached an ITA singles ranking as high as 22nd. Over the course of her undefeated dual-match season, Nakic did not lose a set, while defeating both ranked opponents she faced.

Nakic is a two-time Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, along with being named first team all-CAA in singles and second team all-CAA in doubles each year. She earned CAA Player of the Week honors four times, while also being named the CAA Freshman of the Year in 2009.

Prior to Georgia State, Nakic attended the Turistic School in her hometown, where she was a 10-time Slovenian champion. She competed internationally and was ranked as high as No. 103 by the ITF and No. 483 in the WTA with wins in two ITF events in Dubrovnik and Brcko.

Danaila, a native of Braila, Romania, will join the Lady Bear tennis program after a successful start to her young career. Achieving a career-high WTA singles rank of 891 and a career-high doubles rank of 660, she was one of the top singles and doubles players in her country in U16 and U18. Danaila won Romanian Doubles Championships three times in 2009, while also winning the U18 doubles championship in 2009 and the U16 championship in 2007.

Danaila had career-best national rankings of No. 2 in U16 singles, No. 3 in U18 singles and No. 15 in seniors, while also earning a ranking of No. 3 in U18 doubles in 2008. She was also a finalist in the U16 singles national championship, while finishing third at the U18 and Women’s singles national championships. Danaila graduated from Liceul cu Program Sportiv in Braila in June 2010.

Danaila and Nakic joined Armstrong Atlantic State transfer Novakova, who signed with the Lady Bears during the spring of 2010. Novakova won the ITA “Super Bowl” of Small College Tennis, to earn one of 32 coveted berths to the ITA Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. In the first round, Novakova took Baylor’s then-23rd-ranked Lenka Broosova to three sets, losing in a tie-breaker. Novakova was the only non-Division I player in the field. During her career at AASU, she put together an astounding 59-5 record in singles play, and helped the Pirates to their third consecutive NCAA Division II title.

Pollock, a native of San Antonio, who starred for the Aggies from 2006-09, and Parr were the No. 2 seeds in the 16-team doubles main draw and are currently ranked No. 797 in the world. The duo defeated fourth-seeded Chase Buchanan and Bryan Koniecko, who both played for 2009 NCAA runner-up Ohio State, 6-3, 6-4, in the finals.

It marked Pollock’s third doubles title on the pro circuit this year next to career tour wins with partner Ashwin Kumar at the ITF Pro Circuit tournament held in late May in Celaya, Mexico, and with partner David Savic at the LX Copa Challenge held in February in Cartagena, Spain.

The Linda Bogdan Memorial Futures Tournament, sponsored by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, is a men’s $10,000 clay court tournament that has become one of the favorite stops on the Futures Tour for players working their way up the rankings. Bogdan, who passed away in 2009 and was an avid tennis player, was professional football’s first female scout and daughter of Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.

Aggie fans can follow Conor Pollock’s journey on the professional tennis circuit at: www.conorpollock.net.

“We appreciate Jefferson Hammond’s contribution to TCU and the time and effort he put into the women’s tennis program,” Del Conte said. “We wish him the very best in the future.”

A two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, Hammond recently completed his fourth season at the helm of the Horned Frog women’s program after succeeding former head coach Dave Borelli, who moved over to the TCU men’s program in 2006-07. Hammond led the Frogs to a 64-45 overall record, two MWC regular-season championships and two conference tournament titles in his four seasons. Previously the assistant coach for the women’s squad under Borelli for two seasons, he helped lead TCU to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his six seasons on campus.

“TCU has been an incredible place to work,” Hammond said. “I will miss the players and all the great people at TCU. I am fortunate to walk away with six years of terrific memories.”

Hammond aided the TCU women in their unprecedented string of success that has continued over the past 15 years. The program has finished ranked now lower than No. 56 nationally at the end of each season since 1996-97. Eight of the team’s nine conference championships have come during the run, in addition to every one of the school’s 13 NCAA tournament berths.

A search for Hammond’s replacement will begin immediately.

”We are extremely excited to have Alison join our coaching staff, she brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to our program,” Scrivano said. “Her positive attitude and vibrant personality are contagious and will be an asset to our team. I have a lot of respect for what she has done as a head coach at MTSU, taking that program to the next level. We’re thrilled to have her join the Baylor Tennis family.”

A former All-American and WTA player, Ojeda inherited an MTSU team with just two returning players in 2005, but brought the program back to the national rankings in 2010. Helping the Blue Raiders to their first winning season in six years, Ojeda led MTSU to an 11-10 record, while earning an ITA ranking of No. 75 after a 5-0 start. After winning 15 matches in her first two seasons, she led her team to nine wins in her third and fourth year at the helm.

“I am excited to become a part of Baylor’s Athletic Department and look forward to being back in Texas,” Ojeda said. “Joey and his players have done an exceptional job taking the Baylor Bears to the Elite Eight four of the last five years in the NCAA Tournament. Through the team’s success, it is obvious the players respect and trust Joey as a leader and tennis coach.

Ojeda was an assistant coach at Alabama in 2005 and served two years at Texas A&M, earning the 2004 Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year honor. Alabama fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and finished the year ranked 38th nationally. TAMU posted a 44-19 record during her two seasons in College Station, winning Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and making a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, including reaching the Sweet 16 in 2003.

While at Texas A&M, Ojeda helped the Aggies finish the 2004 season ranked 16th in the nation. She also coached four All-Big 12 players and one All-American, Jessica Roland.

Ojeda spent eight months on the WTA tour in 2004 between her stops as an assistant at Texas A&M and Alabama. She also was the tournament founder and director for the College Station Open, a 64-player open level tournament, during her time as an Aggie.

The San Antonio native enjoyed a stellar playing career at the University of Tennessee, posting 102 singles and 100 doubles victories. She earned All-America honors in singles as a junior, was a four-time Academic All-SEC selection, and was voted the national recipient of the Arthur Ashe Jr. Humanitarian Award and Cissie B. Leary Leadership and Sportsmanship Award in 2002. The Cissie B. Leary Award is presented to someone who displays inspiring commitment and dedication to her team, enhancing the team’s performance and exemplifying the spirit of college tennis. Ojeda was the Southeast Region winner of the Cissie B. Leary Award as a junior, as well.

Ojeda was also a three-time SEC Sportsmanship Award honoree. During her senior year, she helped captain UT’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four. Ojeda finished her career ranked 26th in the country in singles and 59th in doubles.

She finished ranked No. 23 in singles and No. 16 in doubles as a junior, making the NCAA Individual Championships in both events and leading UT to its first-ever SEC championship match appearance. The Lady Vols finished the year ranked No. 6 nationally, the team’s first Top 10 final ranking in 25 years.

As a sophomore, she ended the year ranked 38th in singles and 21st in doubles, making her first NCAA Championships appearance in both singles and doubles. She posted a 47-22 combined mark as a freshman, picking up Tennessee’s lone point in the NCAA Team Championship in a loss to Stanford.

Ojeda garnered First Team All-SEC honors in singles as a junior and Second Team accolades in doubles as a sophomore. She is one of only three players in Lady Vols history to post more than 100 victories in both singles and doubles.

Ojeda was a three-time all-state selection at Douglas MacArthur High School and registered a 2008 combined singles and doubles mark. She reached the finals of the state tournament as a senior before falling in the title match and also advanced to the state tourney as a sophomore and junior. She played in the Sugar Bowl Tournament and National Indoor Championships in 1996-97.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the PAC-16!

Obviously it is still up in the air in as to whether the West Coasters want Baylor or Colorado (they really prefer Colorado), but let’s break this down.

The PAC-10 men’s tennis schools include: USC (2-time defending NC), UCLA (top-10 and 2005 NC), Stanford (top-10 and won it a few times), Cal (not bad, NCAA tournament team), Washington (solid NCAA tournament team), Arizona (NCAA tournament team), along with Oregon.

The Big 12 men’s tennis teams include: Texas (top-4 this season), Baylor (top-10 and quarterfinalist), Texas A&M (top-10), Oklahoma (quarterfinalist), Texas Tech (top-20), Nebraska (NCAA tournament team), Oklahoma State (last team left out of NCAAs this season) and Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, K-State and Iowa State, who all don’t have teams.

So the new conference would be: #1 USC, #4 Texas, #6 UCLA, #7 Baylor (pending their inclusion), #9 Stanford, #10 Texas A&M, #15 Texas Tech, #17 Oklahoma, #18 Cal, #28 Washington, #31 Arizona, #47 Oklahoma State and Oregon. Not too shabby.

On the women’s side, despite Texas’ improvement, this has been all about Baylor. If the Bears gets the invite, they will finally have someone to keep them on their toes within conference. It would include: #1 and defending NC Stanford, #4 Baylor (maybe), #6 UCLA, #12 Cal, #16 Texas, #20 USC, #21 Arizona State, #23 Washington, #37 Texas A&M, #42 Oklahoma, #51 Arizona, #62 Oklahoma State, #72 Colorado (maybe) and Texas Tech, Washington State and Oregon.

Honestly, I like the conference. I know this is being done for football and the travel for the ‘Olympic’ sorts will be a mess, but the level of competition will be tremendous.

I’ll write more as this goes down.