Tulane University
Rice Classic
Women's Tennis Opens Rice Classic With Another Great Start
Oct 8, 2010 | Women's Tennis
Oct. 8, 2010
HOUSTON - The Tulane University women's tennis team's fall season has begun to sound like a broken record - day one of a tournament, a boatload of wins. Following a 15-2 overall performance in the opening day of the Rice Classic on Friday at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium, the Green Wave just may end up breaking records before the season is over.
For the day, Tulane went 8-1 in singles play and 7-1 in doubles competition, and all three Green Wave doubles teams to play in a championship draw have advanced to the title match. In a tournament featuring six Conference USA teams, six of the Green Wave's singles wins were against league opponents as were five doubles wins.
"I feel like I've talked about it quite a bit, but the girls are finally getting it," Tulane head women's tennis coach Terri Sisk said. "They're starting to look like upperclassmen. They're doing a lot of things right and they're hungry. That's something that is exciting for me as a coach to watch.
"Your first year, you're a little bit nervous. Your second year, you're not as nervous but you're still trying to learn things. We always talk about by your third or fourth years, things should start coming together for you. It's fun for me because it actually is really coming together now. We've seen a lot of good things come off the singles courts. On top of that, we've got a great effort and attitude which is all I could ever ask for in the first place."
Things got off to a great start for Tulane in doubles as Mariam Kurdadze and Emma Levy teamed up to down Texas State's Gabriela Rojas and Jessica Kahts 8-2 and UTEP's Martina Treierweiler and Carolina DeLuca, 8-6 to advance to the Flight 1 title match. The Green Wave tandems of Hila Elster and Elizabeth Hamlin along with Lindsay Dvorak and Katherine Cecil, meanwhile, combined to go 4-0 to advance to the Flight 2 championship contest.
Elster/Hamilton downed UAB's Giorgia Romeo and Jenny Camp 8-1 in the opener and Rice's Jessica Jackson and Varsha Shiva-Shankar 8-3 in the semifinals. Dvorak/Cecli had to work overtime to defeat UTEP's Gavi Vasquez and Ximena Fuentes 9-8 in the first round before cruising to an 8-3 win over Texas State's Melissa Hadad and Jessica Laing in round No. 2. The only bad news for the Green Wave in Flight 2 is the two tandems will have to face each other and only one can emerge victorious.
"That's a tough match," Sisk said. "They play each other all the time in practice matches. Tomorrow, we're obviously going to play it. Obviously, we'll get a win and a loss. Obviously, somebody from Tulane is going to come home with a flight victory. But we're going to put maybe something intra-squad on the line - maybe something fun - just to make it a little bit competitive.
"Like I said, they get tired of playing each other. But hey, this is a good thing to happen. You love to see each of your teams advance to play each other in the finals. That means you're doing something right. It's a tough match, but either way, we're happy to see both teams there."
Playing in a round-robin Flight 4, Sharon Siegel and Jessica Lange opened with an 8-3 win over Lee College's Manuela Gomez and Leah Smith before falling to Rice's Leah Fried and Alex Rasch, 8-2. Green Wave junior Marcela Fonseca had her doubles partner sidelined due to injury and teamed with Lee's Gina Stephenson to post a 1-1 record on the day.
In singles action, all eight wins came in straight sets and the Green Wave combined to defeat their opponents by a combined score of 84-24 in those victories. Kurdadze downed UAB's Romeo 6-1, 6-2 in Flight 1 while Hamlin and Levy defeated Southern Miss' Asa Bengston 6-2, 6-2 and Texas State's Melissa Hadad 6-2, 6-4 in Flight 2, respectively.
Dvorak earned a default win over Southern Miss' Stephanie Dellocon in Flight 3, and in Flight 4, Elster posted consecutive 6-1 wins over UTEP's Alexandra Glebova and Fonseca tallied a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Lee College's Manuela Gomez. Cecil defeated Texas State's Mariana Perez 6-0-, 6-1 in Flight 5, and Siegel downed UAB's Rachel Cohen in Flight 8 6-3, 6-2.
"Physically, we've done a lot of work the last couple of weeks on fitness to really stay inside the point, stay aggressive in the point and not get fatigued," Sisk said. "Sometimes what you would see from my team is that we would win the first set and we'd drop the second maybe from a lack of mental focus or a lack of stability. I think we've done a really good job lately of amping that up.
"I told the girls that the second set is the most important. When you win that first one, you've got to finish. You've got to close. You've got to play to win. You can't play scared. You can't play not to lose. The girls did a great job of that. It was a total team effort today. In all the little things that we talk about, they handled them beautifully."
The Rice Classic continues on Saturday with the final round of doubles in the morning and the second round of singles in the afternoon. The tournament concludes on Sunday with the championship singles matches.
Following the weekend in Houston, the Green Wave will enjoy a week off before heading to Birmingham, Ala., for the ITA Southern Regional Championships, which is scheduled to run from Oct. 22-25. Tulane will wrap up fall tournament play on Nov. 12-14 at the Lakewood Ranch Clay Court Classic in Tampa, Fla.
DAY ONE RESULTS FROM THE RICE CLASSIC
SINGLES
Flight 1
Mariam Kurdadze (Tulane) def. Girogia Romeo (UAB) - 6-1, 6-2
Flight 2
Elizabeth Hamlin (Tulane) def. Asa Bengston (Southern Miss) - 6-2, 6-2
Emma Levy (Tulane) def. Melissa Hadad (Texas State) - 6-2, 6-4
Flight 3
Lindsay Dvorak (Tulane) def. Stephanie Dellocono (Southern Miss) - Default
Flight 4
Hila Elster (Tulane) def. Alexandra Glebova (UTEP) - 6-1, 6-1
Marcela Fonseca (Tulane) def. Manuela Gomez (Lee) - 6-1, 6-2
Flight 5
Katherine Cecil (Tulane) def. Mariana Perez (Texas State) - 6-0, 6-1
Flight 7
Elena Kasakova (Houston) def. Jessica Lange (Tulane) - 6-4, 6-4
Flight 8
Sharon Siegel (Tulane) def. Rachel Cohen (UAB) - 6-3, 6-2
DOUBLES
Flight 1
1st Round: Mariam Kurdadze / Emma Levy (Tulane) def. Gabriela Rojas/ Jessica Kahts (Texas State) - 8-2
2nd Round: Mariam Kurdadze / Emma Levy (Tulane) def. Martina Trierweiler / Carolina DeLuca (UTEP) - 8-6
Flight 2
1st Round: Hila Elster / Elizabeth Hamlin (Tulane) def. Giorgia Romeo / Jenny Cape (UAB) - 8-1
1st Round: Lindsay Dvorak / Katherine Cecil (Tulane) def. Gavi Vasquez / Ximena Fuentes (UTEP) - 9-8
2nd Round: Hila Elster / Elizabeth Hamlin (Tulane) def. Jessica Jackson / Varsha Shiva-Shankar (Rice) - 8-3
2nd Round: Lindsay Dvorak / Katherine Cecil (Tulane) def. Melissa Hadad / Jessica Laing (Texas State) - 8-3
Flight 4
1st Round: Sharon Siegel / Jessica Lange (Tulane) def. Manuela Gomez / Leah Smith (Lee) - 8-3
1st Round: Alexandra Glebova / Dariya Abdrakhmanova (UTEP) def. Marcela Fonseca (Tulane)/Gina Stephenson (Lee) - 8-5
2nd Round: Leah Fried / Alex Rasch (Rice) def. Sharon Siegel / Jessica Lange (Tulane) - 8-2
2nd Round: Marcela Fonseca (Tulane)/Gina Stephenson (Lee) def. Moorea Williams/Kellie Gutterman (Southern Miss) - 8-3
Players Mentioned
