Oct. 2, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Fall women's tennis action is in full swing with women's teams competing at various fall invitationals and sending players to the 23rd Annual Riviera ITA All-American Championship at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Below is a complete recap of last weekend's action as well as an update on how players are doing in California.

Complete coverage of the 23rd Annual Riviera ITA All-American Championships can be found here: http://www.itatennis.com/Riviera07/main.htm.

Check back to www.comferenceusa.com for a complete All-American recap.

EAST CAROLINA
Led by senior Luiza Borges's title in the 2B flight and freshman Tamara Sachs' championship in the B3 bracket, the East Carolina women's tennis team put forth a solid effort at the Residence Inn North Wolfpack invitational held inside the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center last weekend. The Pirates accumulated 14 singles victories and seven doubles wins in their first fall tournament.

Borges dropped just one set on her way to the championship, defeating George Washington's Jenny Gomez (3-6, 6-3, 6-3), South Carolina Upstate's Emilia Milovancovic (6-4, 6-3) and West Virginia's Staley Percival (6-4, 6-4). Fellow senior Mireia Gol reached the championship of the A2 bracket, but fell to NC State's Catherine Grotz (6-2, 7-6/3). Another senior, Hannah Priest, also qualified for her flight final, but lost to West Virginia's Gabriela Blaskuvicova (7-5, 7-6) after defeating Liberty's Fabiana Gouveia (6-2, 6-3) and Campbell's Tanya Ahuja (7-5, 2-6, 6-4).

In doubles action, freshmen Jessica Cook and Sachs teamed up to win the A2 consolation championship. The pair lost to Pittsburgh's Elizabeth Adams and Christie D'Achille 8-2 before returning to defeat Wofford's Sonia Anand and Lauren Pickett 8-6, James Madison's Kelly Maxwell and Alyssa Brandalik 8-3 and another JMU pair, Kristin Nimitz and Briana Jain 8-4. Another Pirate tandem, sophomore Brooke Walter and senior Alex Smith, combined to reach the championship of the A3 flight, falling in the title match to UNCW's Lauren Isenhour and Chelsea Kahle 8-1. Along the way, the duo defeated Pittsburgh's Shannon Benic and Anna Broverman 8-1 and Wofford's Laura Graybill and Hayley Wahl.

HOUSTON
The University of Houston women's tennis team competed in the H-E-B Baylor Invitational this weekend, Sept 28-30, with Vicky Simpson advancing to the quarterfinal round of the Singles C draw by Julie Voss 7-6(4), 6-2. Jordan McCombs added to the victories over the weekend for winning the Singles C consolation bracket.

Junior transfer McCombs bowed out of the winner's bracket in the round of 32 after falling to Lamar's Salina Aranda 6-1, 6-3 but redeemed herself in the consolation bracket. McCombs advanced through the draw defeating Lidiya Tsurkanu in an easy 6-3, 6-0, moved onto the quarterfinals to take down Jade Charlot 3-6, 7-6 (10-2), and knocked off Eva Silvester 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals. The final round came down to a two set tie-breaker win for McCombs over Lauren White, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8).

Simpson moved from the round of 32 by taking out Natalie Friend in a close 6-3, 2-6, 6-battle. From

MARSHALL
The Marshall women's tennis team will continue competing against top opponents in the 23rd Annual Riviera Women's ITA All-American Championships Presented by FILA in Pacific Palisades, Calif. on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

Marshall's No. 48 nationally-ranked Kellie Schmitt (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will compete in the singles qualifying first round on Tuesday. Schmitt will face three rounds of action in the qualifying round if she remains victorious. Schmitt is competing for one of eight positions from the qualifying round that will advance to the singles main draw action on Thursday.

The Herd's nationally-ranked duo Schmitt/Karolina Soor (Lindesberg, Sweden) will take on top ranked opponents in the doubles qualifying first round on Tuesday. The partners will be in competition for one of four spots from the qualifying round that will advance to the main draw. If the duo remains victorious throughout three rounds of play, they will advance to the doubles main draw on Thursday.

RICE
Tiffany Lee gutted out a hard-fought 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory to claim the Flight 2 singles championship Sunday on the final day of the SDSU Fall Classic at the Aztec Tennis Center on the San Diego State campus.

Julie Chao had her run at the Riviera/ITA All-American Pre-Qualifying on the UCLA campus come to a close Sunday as the San Diego native lost a 6-2, 6-3 decision to Maya Johansson of Georgia Tech. Johansson advances to the Qualifying section of the draw.

Christine Dao and Dominique Karas picked up consolation wins for the second consecutive day. Dao was a 6-2, 6-0 winner over San Diego State's Darby McGill, while Karas notched a double-bagel victory against Ozge Atalay of San Diego State.

Varsha Shiva-Shankar lost a 6-1, 6-3 decision. Rice also dropped all three of its doubles matches.

Rice hits the courts next weekend at the Cougar Fall Draw. Tournament action gets underway Friday and concludes Sunday on the University of Houston campus. Admission is free to Hoff Courts.

SMU
The SMU women's tennis team traveled to Baylor last weekend to compete in the HEB Baylor Invitational, taking the women's Doubles A consolation bracket by storm.

The doubles pair of Pavi Francis and Kristen Reid got knocked out of the field of 16 by Broosova and Zemenova of Baylor (8-3), putting them in the consolation bracket. Francis and Reid then went on to beat Cruz/Wilhelm of North Texas (8-3), Sotnikova/Taylor of Sam Houston State (8-6) and Ashrafi/Martinez of Lamar (8-3).

Monica Neveklovska and Kseniia Tokarieva also performed well in Doubles B action, beating Gutierrez/Gutierrez of Lamar (8-6) and Franca/Kazarova of North Texas (8-3), taking them to the semi-finals. In the semi-final match, Neveklovska and Tokarieva fell to eventual tournament winner Karaitiana/Tkachenko of Oklahoma State, 8-4.

In singles action, Francis made it to the field of 16 in the A flight, but got knocked off by eventual tournament winner Jana Bielikova of Baylor, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Neveklovska competed in the B flight singles, defeating Niki Flach of Army (6-2, 6-4) and Monika Drabkova of UTSA (2-6, 6-1, 6-1) to advance to the quarterfinal round. In the quarterfinals, Neveklovska faced Angela DiPastina of Ohio State. While Neveklovska forced the first set into extra points, she was unable to overcome DiPastina, who took the match, 7-5, 6-4.

Elsewhere this weekend, Mustang athletes Natalia Bubien and Nicole Briceno competed at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Tennis Championships. Bubien competed in prequalifying singles, defeating Katie Rybacova of Florida State, but was defeated by Liz Ferris of Utah, knocking her out of the competition. Bubien teamed up with Briceno in prequalifying doubles, beating four-seed Becky Bernhard and Clare Fermin of UC Irvine, 8-6, but were defeated by Carolina Escamila and Sarah Woestmann of Kentucky, 8-4.

The Mustangs have the next few weeks off, but are back in action Oct. 17-23 at the ITA Southwest Regionals to be held in Lubbock, Texas.

SOUTHERN MISS
The Southern Miss women's tennis team finished with a strong performance in the Stony Brook Invitational, winning three doubles' match on Sunday.

Stephanie Dellocono and Lauren Gutterman made easy work of Kristin Beehler and Caitlin Finnegan (Army), 8-2. Ali Blackett and Shannon Rogers battled to a win in a tie breaker against Michael Tollerton and Audrey Hansen (Army), 9-8 (7-4). The Eagles completed the sweep with Sherry Price and Natalia Parrado knocking off Bridie Burke and Maria Casaletto (Army), 8-6.

The Lady Eagles pounded out four wins in singles on the second day of the Stony Brook Invitational, Saturday.

Blackett defeated H'Ann Johnson (LIU), 6-3, 4-6, 10-4, while Dellocono downed Ashley Harvey (LIU) in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Selma Babir (LIU) topped Price, 7-5, 6-4.

Gutterman cruised to a 6-0, 6-1, win against Christine Limsiaco (Army), while Jurelle Mendoza (Army) defeated Rogers, 6-2. Zoe Lee downed Vicki Vovsha (Stony Brook), 6-2, 6-2. Rogers also lost to Erica Federgreen (Stony Brook), 7-6, 7-5, while Natalia Parrado lost to Shaina Muruzan (Stony Brook), 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. Lee did not finish her match against Annie Hang (Army).

Southern Miss continues its fall slate, when the Lady Eagles travel to Houston, Texas, for the Cougar Classic, Oct. 5-7.

TULSA
The University of Tulsa's women's tennis team won only one singles match and lost two in the final day of the UNLV Invitational at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the campus of UNLV. The Invitational featured UNLV, LSU, Northern Arizona and Tulsa.

Tulsa's lone victory came from freshman Alexandra Kichoutkin defeated Northern Arizona's Leslie Vial, 6-2, 6-2 in a consolation match of Flight One. Junior Thalia Diaz-Barriga also competed in a consolation match of Flight One, losing to Mykala Hedberg of LSU, 7-5, 6-2.

In the finals of Flight Two, junior Marta Marcinkowska fell to UNLV's Anna Maskaljun, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

UAB
The UAB women's tennis team completed play at the Stony Brook Classic on Sunday by losing three doubles matches against Stony Brook. Prior to their struggles Sunday, the Blazers won all six singles matches they played on Saturday.

On Saturday, UAB played Stony Brook and Long Island in singles. Senior Gulsah Esen won 6-3, 6-1 against the Sea Wolves. Also competing against Stony Brook were senior Seden Soyalp, who won 6-2, 6-2, and freshman Jessica Orton, who earned a 6-1, 6-0 triumph.

Against Long Island, Esen won 6-0, 6-0 and Soyalp won 6-2, 6-1. Orton completed the sweep for the Blazers as she won 6-2, 6-4.

In Sunday's doubles competition, senior Antonia Nugent and freshman Jenny Cape lost 8-3 at No. 1 against Stony Brook. Esen and freshman Evelien Strijker dropped an 8-2 decision at No. 2 and Soyalp/Orton lost 8-4 at flight three.

The Blazers will resume competition on Oct. 20 when they begin play at the ITA South Regional in Athens, Ga.