Women's Tennis: WVU Saves Best For Last
September 28, 2003 08:04 PM | General
September 28, 2003
The West Virginia University women’s tennis team won six out of their final seven consolation matches to close out their weekend at the Maryland Invitational on Sunday, Sept. 28, in College Park, Md.
In flight B singles, senior Courtney Howell defeated Ashley Retlev of American (4-6, 6-4, 6-2) while fellow senior Jennifer Watkins knocked off Syracuse’s Jessica Schlosser (6-0, 6-1).
Since losing her opening match on Friday morning, sophomore Raynie Theis won three straight flight C matches, including a final (7-5, 6-3) victory over Richmond’s Patty Devlin on Sunday. In other flight C action, freshman Ashley Lynn Constantine won a three set thriller over Melanie Tu of Cornell (6-0, 4-6, 6-1).
West Virginia finished the tournament with an overall singles record of 11-12 (.478), but ended their weekend with a 4-0 record on Sunday.
WVU’s tandem of Melissa Day and Raynie Theis finished on a high note in flight A doubles by defeating Cox/Karhohs of Richmond (8-3).
West Virginia’s only loss of the day came in flight B doubles when Catherine Koontz and Ashley Lynn Constantine were defeated in a nail biter by Bramante/Schlosser of Syracuse (9-7). Howell and Watkins, on the other hand, went on to top Applegate/Devlin of Richmond (8-4).
The Mountaineers completed the weekend with an overall doubles record of 6-4 (.667), including a 2-1 record on Sunday.
West Virginia’s young team consistently improved with each day of competition. WVU finished with a record of 5-11 (.312) on Friday, 6-4 (.600) on Saturday, and 6-1 (.857) on Sunday. As a team, the Mountaineers boasted a 17-16 (.515) record for the weekend.
“I’m really proud of the way our team competed this weekend against some of the top programs in the east,” coach Dan Silverstein said. “Through the course of this tournament, we defeated players from top 75 programs such as Richmond, Syracuse, American, and Cornell. I thought we competed well, gained a great deal of experience and really improved as a team. Winning six out of our last seven matches on Sunday demonstrates the confidence we are building each time out.”
West Virginia will return to action in three weeks when the Mountaineers host the WVU Classic from Oct. 17-18 at the Mountaineer Tennis Complex.
