TCU
NCAA Individual Championships
Parajova Stopped Short in Round of 32
5/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - The stellar four-year career of TCU women's tennis senior Simona Parajova came to an end on Thursday with a 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-2 loss to No. 7 Jamie Loeb of North Carolina in the round of 32 at the 2015 NCAA Women's Division I Singles Championship at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
No. 46 Parajova battled through a loss in a tiebreaker in the first set, to comeback and take the second set, but the highly-ranked Loeb proved to have the finishing power needed and ended Parajova's career at TCU.
"Simona competed really well today," head coach Lee Taylor Walker said. "She had some set points in the first set and Jamie came up with some really good shots. Overall, the match could've gone either way and Jamie played better down the stretch in the third.
"Overall though, words can't really describe the elegance and class Simona competed with today. She's a world-class player, even better person and she's going to be really missed on our team. I am happy she will still be around though next year working in Fort Worth and I hope she will have time to share some good wisdom with our younger girls next year. I'm so proud of her."
The match began pretty evenly until Loeb broke Parajova to take a 3-2 lead in the first set. This did not set Parajova back as she bounced back to win the next three games and found herself serving for the set up 5-3. After being broken, Parajova had multiple set points to break Loeb, but the Tar Heel prevailed with the set ultimately going into a tiebreaker. Loeb dominated the tiebreaker from the start and took the one-set lead in the match.
Parajova recovered from the setback by taking a 3-0 lead to start the second set, but Loeb would not go quietly and evened out the set by winning the next three games. Parajova was once again able to take back control of the match and keep it, as the senior won three of the next four games to take the second set, 6-4, and send the match into the decisive third set.
Loeb proved to be too much for Parajova in the final set, as the senior fell, 6-2, and bowed out of the singles competition.
Parajova finishes her final season with a singles record of 25-5, while posting a 92-29 record in her four-year singles career. The Slovakia native will leave her name etched in the TCU record book, as her 92 singles wins are ranked sixth in career victories.
Players Mentioned
