Tennis: WVU to Host Martha Thorn Invitational
September 11, 2008 03:01 PM | General
By Kelly Tuckwiller for MSNsportsNET.com
September 11, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University women’s tennis team will continue its 2008 fall season by hosting the Martha Thorn Invitational on Sept.13-14 at the Mountaineer Tennis Complex in Morgantown, W.Va.
“I feel pretty confident that we will compete well this weekend,” says Head Coach Marc Walters. “Its pretty wide open, we could easy go in this tournament and not win a flight. Hopefully the girls that played last weekend will compete well.”
Other teams competing this weekend will be Presbyterian, Morehead State, Duquesne and Wright State.
The Mountaineers finished the Brevard Invite last weekend with a great showing in both singles and doubles play. In her first tournament as a Mountaineer, junior Olga Elkin took the Flight ‘B’ title after defeating Ali Beavers from Georgia Southern, 6-4, 7-6.
In the doubles events, the Mountaineers took two of three titles. The Flight ‘B’ championship was captured by Stephanie LaFortune and Elkin as they downed Gardner-Webb, 8-6. The Mountaineer team of Veronica Cardenas and Catie Wickline then took the championship in Flight ‘C’ as they defeated teammates Gabriela Blaskovicova and Milica Pantovic 8-2.
“Elkin had a great showing last weekend at the Brevard Invite and our doubles did well,” says Walters. “The team has a long way to go and everything is open as far as positions. It’s anyone’s game right now.”
Formerly known as the WVU Fall Classic, the tournament was renamed the Martha Thorn Invitational after long-time women's tennis coach Martha Thorn retired prior to the 2001 season. Thorn led the WVU women's tennis program for its first 27 years of existence and was only the fourth Mountaineer coach to accumulate more than 300 wins in any sport.
