Colorado State University Athletics
2005-06 Season Recap
5/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 3, 2006
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Two Rams Make CSU History
Sophmore Anne Andersen and junior Emily Kirchem made CSU history as they were the first doubles team ever to be named All-Conference. They broke CSU's record for doubles wins in a season with 21, breaking the previous record of 17 held by Alana Colglazier and Laura Maloney in 1997-98. Six of those wins were over Mountain West opponents, which helped their All-Conference honor. Andersen was also named All-Conference as a singles player, her first honor as All-Conference. This is the third year in a row Kirchem has been honored by the Mountain West.
Rams' Season Ends at Championships
CSU's women's tennis team ended its season in San Diego, Calif., as it lost to No. 28 BYU, 4-0. The Rams lost all three doubles matches. The match ended when Andersen fell to Anastasia Sourkova at No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-0. FreshmanLauren Strasburger and senior Jessica Jones also lost to give the Cougars the victory. Kirchem was the only Ram winning when the match ended, but was not able to finish her 6-2, 4-3 match against Lauren Jones at No. 1 singles. Seniors Jasmin Singh and Carla Pallares also did not finish their matches.
Season Recap
This season had both highs and lows for the Rams. One of the highlights of the season was the performance of the No. 1 doubles team, Anne Andersen and Emily Kirchem. In addition to going 21-10 and breaking the CSU record for doubles wins in a season, they also had some outstanding performances. In March, they defeated the No. 2 doubles team in the country, Iva Gersic and Maja Kovacek of New Mexico, 8-7 (5). It is the highest ranked win of any doubles team at Colorado State. They also defeated Dolly Chang and Sofia Holden of BYU, 8-6. At the end of the Mountain West season, the BYU pair was ranked No. 51. Andersen and Kirchem were also named All-Conference as a pair by going 6-2 in conference dual play, the first Rams' doubles team to be named All-Conference.
Three Rams had winning singles seasons in 2005-06. Andersen went 20-14 overall and 15-8 in dual play at No. 2 singles. She defeated No. 34 Maja Kovacek, 6-4, 7-5, in March. Kirchem went 18-15 overall and 13-9 at No. 1 singles. In February, Kirchem defeated No. 21 Meg Racette of Iowa, 6-3, 6-0. Her win is the highest ranked win as a singles player in CSU history. Freshman Lauren Strasburger went 17-15 overall and 12-11 in singles play, mainly at No. 3 singles.
Kirchem was also nationally-ranked for five weeks this season. She reached a high ranking of 85, the highest ranking by a Ram in history. She began with a preseason ranking of No. 120 in September.
Rams Add Two to Next Season's Roster
While CSU loses three seniors, the Rams have added two new standouts. Hilary Tyler, a transfer from the University of Iowa, and Laura Neal, a freshmen from Oregon, will join the team this fall. Tyler finished the 2004-05 season 13-2 in dual doubles play with her partner and will add strenghth in doubles play. Neal is the second Oregon State Tennis Champion to come to Colorado State along with Kirchem.
Players Mentioned
