June 8, 2005

NEW YORK, NY - Baylor freshman Zuzana Zemenova has been voted the nation's most outstanding athlete in women's tennis, according to results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 29th year.

For winning, Zemenova will receive the Honda Award, given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports as well as an automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions and the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup in New York on June 29, 2005. Zemenova is Baylor's first-ever Honda Award selection.

Zuzana Zemenova, a native of Slovakia, completed the 2004-2005 season, her rookie campaign, earning Big 12 Player of the Year honors and was the Big 12 Singles Champion at the No. 1 spot with a 9-0 mark. En route to winning athe 2005 NCAA singles championship, she became the first unseeded player to win a NCAA singles title, the fifth ever to reach the finals and the sixth freshman ever to win a championship. She also became Baylor's first player to win a Challenger event when she won the Ballantrae ITF Challenger in Birmingham, Ala. She finished her freshman season with a 29-5 mark and 16-4 against ranked opponents.

The other nominees in the tennis category were: Audra Cohen from Northwestern University, Jennifer Magley from the University of Florida and Riza Zalameda from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Other Honda Award winners already announced include: Seimone Augustus for basketball; Ogonna Nnamani for volleyball; Kelly Dostal for field hockey; Leslie Osborne for soccer; Kim Smith for cross-country; Kirsty Coventry for swimming; and Kristen Maloney for gymnastics, Anna Grzebien for Golf, and Kristen Kjellman for Lacrosse. The Athlete voted the most outstanding in track & field will be named in the next week. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions and the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup in New York on June 29, 2005.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.