April 18, 2005

St. Louis, Mo. - Conference USA today announced that former Saint Louis tennis player Julie Siemers (St. Louis, Mo. / St. Joseph's Academy) has been named to the C-USA All-Decade Women's Tennis Team.

"This selection is a testament to Julie's day-to-day commitment," said head coach Jonathan Zych. "Julie overachieved in all of her activities whether it was athletically, academically or through her community service projects. She is a shining example of everything that is right with Billiken athletics."

Siemers holds a 107-36 cumulative singles record. Among her honors during her Billiken career, she was named the 2002 C-USA Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was a 2002 Verizon Academic All-District VII Women's At-Large First-Team selection, 2002 SLU Senior Student-Athlete of the Year and 2001 C-USA third-team All-Conference selection. Siemers was a four-time C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal recipient for her GPA of 3.75, or higher and was named to the University's Dean's List all eight semesters of her career.

C-USA is celebrating its 10th anniversary during the 2004-05 season and is naming a Team of the Decade for each of the conference's 19 sports. Women's Tennis is the latest sport to have its All-Decade team released and the squad is led by former Tulane standout Anna Monhontova, a three-time all-Conference USA first team selection, who was named as the Athlete of the Decade. The Women's Tennis Coach of the Decade award was won by Tulane's David Schumacher. The other members of the team include Kara Molony (Cincinnati), Sarah Borwell (Houston), Ana Fernandez (Marquette), Elisa Penalvo (Marquette), Paty Aburto (TCU), Jenny Kuehn (Tulane) Mirela Vladulescu (UAB), and Kathrine Tessler (USF).