SMU women’s tennis dominates consolation bracket of Baylor Invite

by PegNews wire

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.

"I was again pleased by the team's effort this weekend," said head coach Lauren Longbotham-Meisner. "Playing three tournaments in a row can be very challenging both mentally and physically, so we will use these next few weeks before the ITA Regional to rest, reflect and regroup in order to finish up our fall season strongly."

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.

Source: SMU