Tennis: Two Mountaineers to Compete at Regionals
October 17, 2007 02:37 PM | General
By Steve Stone of MSNsportsNET.com
October 17, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Seniors Stacey Percival and Monica Lyskawa will represent the West Virginia University women’s tennis team when they compete in this weekend’s ITA Women’s Eastern Regional Tournament beginning on Friday, Oct. 19, in Yorktown, Va.
The four-day tournament features some of the best players from the eastern region and will host over 100 ITA member schools, including top-shelf programs William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth and Virginia.
No. 118 seed Percival will begin singles play on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 4:30 p.m. when she faces No. 117 ranked Vanja Lakic of Niagara. The winner will play No. 120 seed Charlie Tansill of Pennsylvania in the round of 64.
Lyskawa, ranked No. 20 in qualifying singles, will play Army’s Anne Houghton on Friday at 10:30 a.m. The winner of that match will play on the same day at 1 p.m. in the round of 16.
Both players will also compete in doubles action on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. Ranked No. 45, the tandem will play No. 46 seed Brown/Hanusz of Liberty in the first round.
Lyskawa and Percival will be seeking to gain valuable ranking experience competing in one of the ITA’s most competitive tournaments.
Percival has enjoyed a stellar fall season after teaming with Lyskawa to win the Flight ‘A’ championships at the Martha Thorn Invitational. She also reached the Flight B2 finals at the Residence Inn North Wolfpack Invitational.
Lyskawa, who won 30 games last season, reached the ‘Flight A1’ consolation finals at the Residence Inn North Wolfpack Invitational and looks to further her impressive play when she competes against high-level competition this weekend.
"This will be a good test for our seniors,” says Head Coach Marc Walters. “They didn't get the opportunity to compete here last season, so they are hungry to show their ability against a solid field.”
Walters also believes that both players have the talent and experience to make a deep run in the tournament.
"I think Stacey and Monica are definitely capable of making some noise at this event,” says Walters. “They each have had some good results against some of the field that will be there."
