Pandzic is top tennis rookie

The followng appeared in The Fresno Bee from California. John Peter Kraljic, Esq.

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The Fresno Bee

(Updated Monday, May 24, 2004, 6:32 AM)

Fresno State's Jelena Pandzic was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's rookie player of the year Sunday. Pandzic was presented the award at the annual ITA awards banquet, held at the University of Georgia, site of the NCAA championships.

The honor is the first national award received by a Fresno State women's tennis player. Pandzic, a native of Split, Croatia, previously was named an All-American in singles and the Western Athletic Conference player of the year. She also was first-team All-WAC in singles and doubles and the WAC freshman of the year.

Pandzic, 24-1 in singles, opens play this morning in the NCAA singles tournament, in which she's seeded third. Her first opponent is Mississippi's Chloe Carlotti, a former two-time All-American at Fresno State who transferred at the end of the fall semester.

Pandzic also is participating in the NCAA doubles tournament with partner Lucia Tallo. The duo, which is 20-2 and has won 15 in a row, plays Courtney Bergman and Susanna Lingman of Harvard in the first round Tuesday.

In the team competition, which ended Sunday, Stanford completed an unbeaten season with a 4-1 victory over UCLA for the championship.