May 13, 2000

NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships
First Round
Courtney Tennis Center
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.

First Round: South Carolina 5, Western Michigan 1

South Carolina head coach Arlo Elkins

On number one player Katarina Markovski not playing:
“She has a little stomach virus. She didn’t feel real good today but I think she’ll be okay tomorrow.”

On playing without Markovski:
“Everybody’s good now, there’s parity in college tennis. When you have to move everybody up, it’s always a concern. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned. But we’re pretty solid all the way down (the lineup).”

South Carolina player Catherine Brown

On playing singles for the first time since February:
“It was a bit of a challenge, but I had to step up and do it for the team. I thought I did alright, considering I hadn’t played singles in forever.”

On winning five straight games in the second set:
“I started being more patient and tried to keep the ball in and not make mistakes. I tried to work the point and come in to point it away.”

Western Michigan head coach Betsy Kuhle

On the match:
“I think the highlight of the matches is that we were in it until the last second. Any time you win at number two and you’re in it at the bottom (of the lineup), that means that you’re pretty even and I think you had a pretty good opportunity to win the match.”

On Cyra Malik winning at number two:
“I’m happy for Cyra to go out as a senior and win the final match of her career. She’s contributed a tremendous amount. She’s been in the lineup every year at the highest spots.”

On playing South Carolina without Markovski:
“I thought we had a great opportunity. It felt like when we beat Marquette earlier this year when their number one was out. But South Carolina is a very tough team.”