Women's Tennis Freshman Wins Fall Tournament
Sep 29, 2002 | Women's Tennis
Sept. 29, 2002
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. - - Tulane women's tennis player Julie Smekodub upset a pair of Top 15 ranked players to win the Cissie Leary Invitational at the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Smekodub, a freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y., upset Old Dominion's Nataly Cahana in the semifinals, 7-6, 7-5, to start the day. Cahana, a two-time All-American, was the tournament's top seed and is currently ranked 11th in the Intercollgiate Tennis Association's (ITA) preseason rankings. In the finals, Smekodub cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Penn's Alice Pirsu to take home the individual title. Pirsu, an All-American and last season's Ivy League Player of the Year, was the draw's second seed and is currently ranked 14th by the ITA.
Smekodub, ranked 95th by the ITA, also won a pair of matches on Friday and another two on Sunday in her march to the tournament finals. She began the tournament with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Ohio State's Taryn Bowen in the first round before posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Texas A&M's Nicki Meeham in the second round. Smekodub won her Round of 32 match by default and was a 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 winner over Harvard's Eva Wang in the quarterfinals.
Tulane sophomore Maria Ivanov also won a pair of matches at the tournament, defeating Texas A&M's Seva Iwinski 6-4, 7-5 in the first round and Brown's Yelena Klurfield 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. Ivanov, last season's Conference USA Freshman of the Year, then dropped a hard-fought 6-3, 6-0 decision to Pirsu in the Round of 16.
Tulane will play host to the Green Wave Classic beginning Oct. 4 at the Goldring Tennis Complex. The tournament will feature some of the top collegiate players in the nation, including players from No. 10 Texas, No. 26 South Alabama, No. 28 TCU and No. 51 LSU.
