Ladyjacks Pick Up Wins At TJC Tournament
11/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Nov. 9, 2008
TYLER, Texas - The Ladyjack tennis team did not drop a single first-round singles match, and Andreea Enica and Tatiana Smolnikova each won their flights, as the Ladyjacks closed out a successful fall season at Tyler Junior College this weekend.
Smolnikova knocked off three Southland Conference opponents in winning the White Bracket of the tournament, not dropping a set in her three-match run. She knocked off Amy Isbell of TJC in the first round 6-1, 6-2, before running by three straight Sam Houston players to take the bracket. Smolnikova finished off Lilit Martirosyan in the title match 6-0, 6-1.
Enica claimed the Pink Bracket of the singles tournament, also not dropping a set in the tournament. After a 6-0, 6-1 win over unattached Muriel Mendonca in the first round she defeated Brittany Tobin of Collin County Community College before pulling off a 6-3, 6-0 win over Louisiana Tech's Mallory Smith in the final match.
Alina Shazkho had another successful tournament, competing with Roxana Enica in the Black Bracket. Shazkho pulled off a 6-1, 7-6 win over Memphis' Sarah Irvin and then got past Marie Liwuslilili of Collin County before running into Sam Houston's Irina Sotnikova in the semifinals. Enica got out of the first round as well, getting a 6-1, 6-0 win over Adrianna Mekowska of Louisiana Tech, but was forced to withdraw due to injury in the first set of the second round against Gioria Pozzan of Sam Houston.
In the Gold Bracket it was Sanjana Kapur that advanced all the way to the finals, defeating Sarah Yeargan of OCU and Sam Houston's Eleonora Kuruc both in straight sets to get to the finals, but ran out of gas against the Bearkats' Peta Taylor in the final, losing 6-0, 6-0. It was nearly an all SFA final in this bracket as Gabriela Gadeva won each of her first two matches to get to the semifinals, but couldn't quite get past Taylor despite going to a tiebreaker 3-6, 6-0, 10-3.
Jamie Williams and Christelle Kaempfer also picked up two singles wins apiece, with Williams advancing to the semifinals of the Pink Bracket and Kaempfer advancing to the semifinals of the White Bracket.
In doubles action it was Kapur and Kaempfer with the best showing, snagging three straight wins in the Gold Bracket before falling to the combination of Pozzan and Vujosevic of Sam Houston 8-4 in the finals. The Bearkat combo had to go through another SFA pair, Jamie Williams and Andreea Enica, in the semis to advance.
In the Black Bracket, Gadeva and Smolnikova dropped their first-round matchup, but rallied to win three straight matches and take the consolation portion of the bracket with a 8-5 win over Lewis and Hall of Temple College. Roxana Enica and Shazkho also picked up consecutive wins to start the bracket, but fell in the semifinals to Kuruc and Manzur of Sam Houston.
-SFA-
