Tennis: Pilsbury Lone Mountaineer Champion
September 17, 2007 02:37 PM | General
By Steve Stone of MSNsportsNET.com
September 17, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Freshman Ashley Renee Pilsbury continued her strong play for the West Virginia University womens tennis team by winning the No. 5 singles championship, 6-1, 6-3, over teammate Monique Burton on Sunday, Sept. 16, at the Army Invitational in West Point, N.Y.
Pilsbury, fresh off an impressive performance at last weekend’s Martha Thorn Invitational, was the only Mountaineer to get to the finals of her bracket.
“I was really happy to see Ashley and Monique play through,” said Head Coach Marc Walters. “It shows us that they aren’t going to give away matches, and they were consistent and competitive. Both girls are beating players they are supposed to beat.”
Other Mountaineers stumbled against a field that featured top-notch competition. In No. 2 singles, Alexandra Kaluza was defeated by eventual champion Andrea Novaceanu of Buffalo, 6-3, 7-5.
Natalia Prinz also started her second day by losing in the quarterfinals, falling to Stonybrook’s Paola Rodolfi, 6-2, 6-3.
Gabriela Blaskovicova’s run ended after losing to Elizabeth Adams of Pitt, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 3 singles semifinals. Blaskovicova started out Saturday by upsetting No. 2 seeded Caitlin Baker of Rutgers, 6-3, 6-1.
The trend of early Saturday exits continued for WVU as Stephanie LaFortune was defeated by Smarenda Stan of Buffalo, 6-0, 4-6, 10-3, in the No. 4 singles quarterfinals.
Kathryn Klein and Colleen Speaker, who were seeded as the No. 5 doubles tandem, were defeated by top-seeded Varela-Lucido of Bucknell, 8-3, in No. 2 doubles play.
Walters felt the tournament was beneficial for WVU as they continue their tune-up for the spring season next weekend at the North Carolina State Invitational on Sept. 21.
“We came out with a solid Friday, but we didn’t have a solid Saturday,” said Walters. “We weren’t in good playing shape, but overall I was still impressed. The strength of the tournament was much deeper than last year and the level of competition was better.”
