The Wake Forest women's tennis team wrapped up their fall season this past weekend as they hosted the 2002 Omni Hotels/ ITA Southeast Regional Championships Oct. 24-28 at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

The women have played brilliantly this season, and four players advanced all the way to the Round of 16 in the Regionals.

Sophomore Danielle Schwartz served first for Wake Forest, the only Deacon to play on Oct. 24, yet she fell 6-3, 6-1 to Meggie Patterson from Davidson. On Oct. 25, both doubles teams, Schwartz/Katie Martzolf and Karin Coetzee/Aimee Smith, plus two Demon Deacons singles players progressed to the Round of 16. Martzolf and Schwartz netted a final score of 8-6 in their doubles match, defeating a twosome from Wofford College. Coetzee and Smith scored an 8-4 win over their rivals from Campbell College.

Coetzee's work on the court was not finished after her victory with Smith, however. The 5-foot-6-inch sophomore quickly crushed her competitor from Davidson 6-2, 6-1, then served up another 6-2, 6-1 success over Gabriela Moreira from Charleston Southern.

Martzolf furthered the Wake Forest victories as she won both rounds of her singles matches, trouncing Katie Anson from Kentucky 6-2, 6-2, then battling it out with Kerstin Stockinger from Campbell College 6-1, 2-6, 7-6. Both Coetzee and Martzolf's singles victories clenched their positions in the Round of 16. Smith lost her second-round singles match 6-0, 6-0 to her opponent from Duke, dropping her out of the running for a regional singles victory. Elizabeth Proctor also faced strong opposition from Duke, losing her first round 6-1, 6-1. Both doubles teams lost 8-6 in the Round of 16 to relentless rivals from UNC, while Martzolf finished her season as she fell 7-5, 6-2 to another Tar Heel.

Although the two doubles teams lost halfway through the tournament, Head Coach Brian Fleishman said they "are making huge strides in the right direction."

Coetzee took the court to continue her undefeated pattern, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the Round of 16 against Julia Smith from Duke, and placing her in the Quarter Finals. Unfortunately, Coetzee's 11-match winning streak came to an end when 8th-ranked Kate Pinchbeck from UNC took her out 6-1, 6-1. Although Coetzee was the only Deacon to make it past the Round of 16, the goal of the tournament, for Wake Forest anyway, was to measure the women's improvement since the beginning of the season.

"We now know that we still have many areas that we need to improve at before the spring season kicks in," Fleishman said. "We are moving better at the net and starting to understand the game of doubles college style."

All of the players on the women's team served up a sparkling season, yet a couple truly shined in Fleishman's eyes. "Karin Coetzee and Katie Martzolf are the top players for the team this year," Fleishman said. "These two young ladies will have to lead this team to greater heights. Karin is very talented and Katie is very competitive; the combination of the two will set the tone for the rest of the team."