FSU'S BARBORA JILKOVA NAMED REGION'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Bulldog Captain Receives Great Lakes Region's Highest Individual Honor
 | Senior Barbora Jilkova received the 2003-04 ITA Great Lakes Region Senior Player of the Year Award |
Ferris State University senior captain Barbora Jilkova (Prague, Czech Republic) of the 2003-04 Bulldog women's tennis team received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Great Lakes Region Women's Senior Player of the Year Award in an announcement made Tuesday (May 11) by the ITA.
As a regional winner, Jilkova is one of eight candidates for the ITA National Player of the Year Award which will be announced later this month. The voting for the region's highest individual honor was conducted by the region's awards committee.
A four-time (1999-03) first-team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) honoree, Jilkova has compiled a 16-11 overall singles record and a 27-8 doubles mark to date this campaign. The three-time regional doubles champion (2000-01 and 2003) presently ranks fourth on both the school's career singles and doubles victory lists with a 81-35 (.698) singles mark and a 102-35 (.745) doubles ledger. Jilkova previously received the 2003 GLIAC Player of the Year Award last fall after leading FSU to a league runner-up finish during the regular season.
Jilkova, a 2001-02 ITA Division II Doubles All-America performer, teamed with sophomore Laura Schaefer (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) to claim the 2003 ITA Great Lakes Region Doubles Championship in Indianapolis, Ind. (9/21). The duo then placed seventh overall in the 2003 ITA National Small College Championships (10/16-19) at Corpus Christi, Texas.
One of only two All-America performers in school history, Jilkova paired with Jennifer Garvey (1998-02) and compiled Ferris’ third-best single-season doubles record (29-4) along with the program’s top single-season doubles victory percentage (.879) during the 2001-02 campaign en route to a fifth-place finish at the 2001 ITA National Small College Tennis Championships (10/18) in Plano, Texas. The 5-9 Jilkova concluded her four-year GLIAC career with a combined 85-10 (.895) league regular-season singles and doubles record.
Ferris State, which is ranked 20th in the latest (April 29) ITA Division II national poll, advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships "Sweet Sixteen" by claiming one of two Great Lakes Regional tournament titles last weekend (May 6-7) at FSU’s Racquet and Fitness Center in Big Rapids, Mich. The Bulldogs beat West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Shepherd (5-0) in last Thursday's (May 6) first-round match before defeating league opponent Michigan Tech (5-1) in Friday's (May 7) championship encounter to win their fourth regional crown in the last six seasons to date.
The Bulldogs, who are currently 17-7 overall, are making their 14th overall NCAA-II Tournament appearance and fifth berth in the national finals round this season under fourth-year head coach Dave Ramos. FSU will face unranked Millersville (Pa.) this Wednesday (May 12) in the NCAA-II Sweet Sixteen at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the United States Tennis Association, and the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and junior college levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship.
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