Tennis Finishes Play At North Florida Tournament :: Freshman duo wins doubles bracket, Taylor Morgan nabs consolation championship

Oct. 14, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ---- The Samford men's and women's tennis teams finished play Sunday in the University of North Florida Invitational. The men faired well while the women had even more success as freshman duo Lindsey Mallory and Taylor Morgan won their doubles bracket while Morgan also captured a consolation title.

On Friday morning, Morgan fell to North Florida's Maria Melihova in the first round of the singles "B" bracket, sending her to the consolation bracket. However, she swept right through the consolation bracket, defeating opponents from Stetson, Georgia Southern and UTEP before beating Catherine Canady of Stetson in the final round of the "B" consolation bracket with a score of 7-6(4), 6-3.

Also for the Bulldog women, freshman Lindsey Reidenbach made it to the final round of the women's "C" singles bracket before being knocked out by Jacksonville's Lina Xu (6-1, 6-1). Earlier in the tournament, she defeated Marine Arres of Troy (7-6(1), 6-2), Daniella Palmioto of Stetson (6-0, 6-0) and Mercer's Karen Bellman (6-3, 6-1) to advance to the finals. In the same bracket, freshman Rebecca Kirven defeated Amber Brightly of UTEP (6-7, 6-3, 6-4) in the second round before falling to Caroline Jouanin of Troy (3-6, 6-1, 6-2) in the quarterfinals.

In the women's "A" singles bracket senior Katie Weaver made it to the quarterfinal round, fell to Troy's Annabelle Bares, 6-2, 6-0. Weaver had a bye in the first round then defeated Natalia Sanchez of UNF, 6-2, 6-2, to make it to the quarterfinals. Also in that bracket, senior Anna Jackson had a bye to the second round but fell to Valentina Galbarini of Stetson (6-2, 7-6) to be sent to the consolation bracket. Jackson defeated Irys Citko of Mercer, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals, but then fell to UNF's Vanessa Sanchez, 6-3, 6-2.

In women's doubles action, Lindsay Mallory and Taylor Morgan won the women's "B" doubles final, defeating Troy duo De Bakker/Vieira, 8-1 in the finals. Mallory/Morgan beat Bugge/Sachs of Mercer, 8-3, in the quarterfinals and Galbarini/St. Claire of Stetson, 8-6, in the semifinals.

In the women's "A" doubles, Jackson/Weaver defeated Atkinson/Nowicki of Stetson, 8-6, to advance to the semifinal in which they fell to Durcakova/Sanchez of UTEP, 8-2. In the women's "C" doubles, freshman duo Kirven/Reidenbach fell in the first round to UNF's Krook/Rogers, 8-5, to go to the consolation bracket. The tandem then made it to the semifinal round by defeating Melo/Palmioto, 8-2, in the quarterfinals and advanced to the final round by default. However, they eventually fell in the finals to UTEP's Michand/Fuentes, 8-6.

In the men's "C" singles bracket, both freshman Adam Witcher and junior Brian Dushock advanced to the quarterfinal round before being put out. Witcher had a bye for the first round and defeated Mark Paetz of Georgia Southern, 6-4, 7-6(6), to move on to the quarterfinal round. He met his demise in that round, as he fell to Michael Gaerthoeffner of Memphis, 6-0, 6-0. Dushock also had a bye for the first round and moved onto the quarterfinal round by defeating Troy's Diego Martinez (4-6, 6-1, 6-2) in the second round. However, he fell to FAU's Lawrence Harradine in the quarterfinals, 7-5, 6-1.

Freshman Oliver Reynolds made it to the quarterfinal round of the men's "B" singles with a bye through the first round and a win over Bethune-Cookman's Jerome Ward, 6-3, 6-1, but eventually was put out by Victor Vaz of Jacksonville in the quarterfinal round, 6-3, 7-6. In the same bracket, freshman Carl Abalos was sent to the consolation bracket after falling to FAU's Corey Smith in the second round. He then fell to Stephen Wiechert of Oregon in the quarterfinal consolation round, 6-4, 6-3.

In the men's "A" singles, sophomore Kelwin Dewet and senior Hank Grant both found themselves in the consolation bracket after falling the second round. Dewet received a bye through the first round, fell to Javier Ferrin of UNF, 6-1, 6-0, then fell in the quarterfinal of the consolation bracket to Guilherma Sahadhi of Troy, 7-5, 6-4. Grant defeated Sahadhi (6-3, 6-1) in the first round and fell to Eduardo Pereira of UNF (6-2, 6-4) to go to the consolation bracket. He then defeated Bethune-Cookman's Christian Cruz, 6-2, 6-0, in the second round before falling to Oregon's Mike Myrhed in the consolation quarterfinal round, 6-4, 7-6.

In men's doubles action, Grant/Witcher advanced to the semifinal round of the men's "C" doubles by default but lost to Lopes/Morje of UNF, 8-6. They then went to the consolation bracket and advanced tot eh semifinal round there by default also. In the consolation semifinal round, the tandem defeated Gomes/Powell of Bethune-Cookman, 8-0 but fell to Troy's Martinez/Van Aertz by default in the final round.

In the men's "A" doubles bracket, Abalos/Oliver defeated FAU's Benitez/Vaz, 8-6, but fell to Georgia Southern's Malet/Nkoueleue, 8-1, in the quarterfinal round. That sent them to the consolation bracket in which they would fall to Heflin/Ramsey of Memphis, 8-4, in the quarterfinals.

Dewet/Dushock fell in the quarterfinal round of the men's "B" doubles to Bekkers/De Weerdt of Georgia Southeren, 8-5. That sent them to the consolation bracket and they would defeat Bethune-Cookman's Jackson/Ward, 9-7, in the quarterfinals before falling to Mayeda/Wiechert of Oregon, 8-6, in the semifinals.

Next up for the Samford men are the ITA Regionals Oct. 18-22 hosted by the University of Kentucky. The women while also compete in the ITA Regionals hosted by the University of Georgia, Oct. 20-23.