May 26, 2006

Stanford, Calif. - No. 4 ranked Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic fell yesterday in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-5 match against the No. 27 tandem from Kentucky, Kim Coventry and Carolina Escamilla, in the first round of the NCAA Individual Championships in the Taube Tennis Center at Stanford University.

"Maja and Iva played very well the first set," head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said, "but they just didn't keep it up in the second set. The Kentucky duo showed up and played very well the last two sets. We didn't play at our best and Kentucky came out the winner."

Kovacek and Gersic went into the draw as the fourth seed and ranked 4th in the nation. The duo finished their 2005-2006 season 25-6 overall. They earned All-America honors for being the fourth seed in the NCAA Championships as well as being named to the all-Conference team. Kovacek and Gersic were ranked as high as No. 2 this year, making it the highest ranking a UNM women's tennis player has ever received.

The NCAA Doubles Championship marks the third and final national tournament Kovacek and Gersic have competed in as a doubles team for the 2005-06 season. During the fall, the pair competed at the prestigious ITA/Riviera All-American Championships and the ITA National Individual Indoor Championships. With the NCAA tournament behind them, the Lobo tandem has achieved a huge accomplishment by competing at all three of collegiate tennis' premier events.

For complete results visit GoStanford.com.