Sept. 15, 2011
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Complete Release | Gopher Invitational Brackets
THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team will kick off the 2011 fall season at the Gopher Invitational Friday-Sunday. The tournament will be hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Baseline Tennis Center. Play will begin at 1:30 p.m. (CT) Friday, followed by a 10:30 a.m. (CT) start on Saturday and a 9 a.m. (CT) start on Sunday.
THE LINE-UP
All eight Hawkeyes on the roster will compete.
THE COMPETITION
Iowa will compete against Bradley, Gustavus, Iowa State, LSU, Minnesota, Missouri, UW-Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
ITA PRESEASON RANKINGS
Senior Sonja Molnar is ranked 65th in the 2011 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) preseason poll. Last year, the Guelph, Ontario, native finished the season ranked 96th by ITA. She ended the 2010 season ranked 55th, the highest ranking by a Hawkeye since 2006.
WITHIN SHOUTING DISTANCE
Senior Sonja Molnar enters her senior season with 73 singles wins. If the Guelph, Ontario, native is able to duplicate her 27-win junior season, she will join Laura Dvorak (102) and Milica Veselinovic (113) as the only Hawkeyes with 100 career wins. Molnar won 28 matches as a sophomore and 18 as a freshman.
MOLNAR A UNANIMOUS SELECTION (AGAIN)
Senior Sonja Molnar was an unanimous first team All-Big Ten honoree for the third straight season in 2011. She became the fourth Hawkeye in program history to garner all-conference recognition on three separate occasions, joining Meg Racette (2004-06), Toni Neykova (1999-2002) and Laura Dvorak (1992-95).
FOUR NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN
Four Hawkeyes, including seniors Ally Majercik and Sonja Molnar, received academic All-Big Ten honors at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season. Majercik, an integrative physiology major, and Molnar, an interdepartmental studies major, both earned the honor for the second consecutive season.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Four of the eight student-athletes on the Hawkeye roster are entering their first season of college eligibility. Morven McCulloch, Ellen Silver, Shelby Talcott and Katie Zordani enter their freshmen seasons considered the 25th-best recruiting class in the nation. Silver (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Talcott (Long Island, N.Y.) and Zordani (Lake Forest, Ill.) were tabbed five-star prospects by TennisRecruiting.net, while McCulloch, a St. Andrews, Scotland native, won gold in singles and doubles at Twin Town Olympiad in Alba, Italy.