April 23, 2005
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Junior tennis player Jessica Shepard may not be known for the most powerful serve, lightning-quick reaction to a return or a stealth backhand, but there is no doubt about her heart and her court smarts.
The Carrollton, Texas, native rebounded from a sluggish second set to defeat Sam Houston State's Bethany Yurkiw 6-2 in set three to give the Mavericks the deciding point in a 4-1 victory over the Bearkats in one semifinal of the 2005 Southland Conference Tennis Championships here Saturday afternoon.
The win propels UTA (14-8) into Sunday's championships match against Southeastern Louisiana at 2:30 p.m. A win by UTA would give them an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Shepard, playing singles for a portion of the conference regular season after Simri van Rooyen has been limited to double play with an injury, rallied from an 0-2 deficit in the third set to win the final six games.
"Jess came up huge today," said women's head coach Christian Wassmer, who was named the SLC Coach of the Year during Friday's tournament banquet. "She is very mature out there. She may not have all the tools in the world, but she knows the game, she know what she is capable of doing and does a great job of using that to her advantage.
"she was the winning point for us in a 4-3 win over Lamar and I don't know what you can say about what she brought to the team today."
UTA won the doubles point after wins at Nos. 1 and 3. Pavla Mesterova and Daniela Novokova defeated Lata Assudani and Mounia Hassib 8-4 at No. 1. Monika Peciulionyte and Anete Rozkalne defeated Emma McDougall and Yurkiw 8-1 at No. 3.
In singles, Novokova needed just 55 minutes to beat Hassib 6-2, 6-3 for a 2-0 lead in the match. Mesterova fought off a feisty Assudani 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win before Shepard's clinching point.
"I wasn't as aggressive in the second set as I was in the first," said Shepard. "It was good to have coach with me in the third set reminding me of what I needed to do. He told me to move more and not just sit there. It helped."
