Women's Tennis: WVU Finishes Strong at Penn State
October 04, 2004 07:26 PM | General
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By Jarrod Sudduth for MSNsportsNET.com
October 4, 2004
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The West Virginia University women’s tennis team posted strong victories over squads from Penn State, Columbia and Seton Hall at the Penn State Invitational on Oct. 1-3 in University Park, Pa.
On the singles side, the Mountaineers finished with an overall record of 16-5 while boasting representatives in three different bracket championships.
Freshman Monica Lyskawa was WVU’s top finisher in Flight A competition after advancing all the way to the bracket championship. The Brampton, Ontario, native defeated Columbia’s Miriam Rahali, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round before disposing of Penn State’s Sasha Abraham, 6-2, 6-4 in round two.
Lyskawa advanced to the championship by defeating Viviana Figueroa of Seton Hall, 6-2, 6-2. Despite a resilient effort through the course of the weekend, the freshman fell to Columbia’s Angela Hendry in the championship, 6-1, 6-1.
Fellow freshman Natalia Prinz posted a 3-1 record over the weekend after defeating Seton Hall’s Nadja Sein, 6-1, 6-3 in round one and fellow teammate Kelly Walsh, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (11) in the quarterfinals. The Tczew, Poland, native fell to Columbia’s Angela Hendry in the semifinals (7-5, 6-3) before defeating Figueroa in consolation play.
Walsh, a native Chalfont, St. Giles, U.K., represented West Virginia in the Flight A consolation bracket championship. She disposed of Marlena Hall of Columbia, 6-2, 6-4 before falling to Prinz in the second round of the championship bracket. The sophomore achieved an overall record of 3-2 after defeating Eunice Chao of Columbia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and Lorell Zemot of Seton Hall to advance to the consolation title match. Walsh received runner-up honors after being defeated by Penn State’s Sasha Abraham, 6-2, 6-3.
In Flight B action, junior Raynie Theis fell in the first round to Penn State’s Andreea Niculescu, 6-1, 6-2 before catching fire in the consolation bracket with three straight victories. The Bloomington, Minn., native topped Veronika Gerka of Seton Hall, 6-3, 6-1 before defeating Seton Hall’s Iva Gyurgina, 6-4, 6-1. In the semifinals of the consolation bracket, Theis outlasted fellow teammate Catherine Koontz in a three set thriller, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 before falling in the final to Kara Worsley of Columbia.
Koontz fell to Anna Varnay of Columbia, 6-2, 6-2 and defeated Penn State’s Lindsay Downing to advance to her semifinal match with Theis.
Sophomore Ashley Constantine finished the weekend with a 3-1 record after beating Kristine Harclerode of Penn State, 6-3, 6-0 in the first round and topping Gyurgina, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The Binghamton, N.Y., native dropped her semifinal match to Varnay, 6-2, 6-2 before defeating Seton Hall’s Jennifer Seide in consolation play.
West Virginia’s best showing in the doubles category came from the team of Prinz and Theis who advanced to the semifinals of the championship bracket. The duo defeated Seide and Zamot of Seton Hall 8-2 before disposing of Penn State’s Downing and Harclerode 8-4 in the quarterfinals. The unit bowed out in the semifinals with a loss to Chao and Hendry of Columbia.
Constantine and Koontz fell to Isaza and Sein of Seton Hall 8-0 before picking up consolation victories over Abraham and BeVard of Penn State and Hall and Kachar of Columbia. The duo fell in the semifinals of the consolation bracket to Seide and Zamot.
“I told the team prior to the weekend that our goal was to use this tournament to bring respect back to the Mountaineer tennis program,” coach Dan Silverstein says. “We finished with a 5-1 record against a Penn State team who was in the top 75 a year ago. Overall, we came in and posted some outstanding records against some great teams.”
The Mountaineers return to action this week when they travel to Pacific Palisades, Calif., on Oct. 5-10 to compete in the Riveria Championships.
