Women's Tennis Competes at USTA Collegiate Invitational
10/11/2009 4:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis
NEW YORK – The Columbia women's tennis team has been taking part in the USTA Collegiate Invitational at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. this weekend. While several players have had impressive showing for the Lions, first-year Nicole Bartnik was the standout for Columbia, as she has advanced to the finals of the event, without ever dropping a set.
In the first round, Bartnik dropped Elmine Botes from Fairleigh Dickinson, 6-0, 6-2, before advancing to defeat Harvard's Kristin Norton, 6-3, 6-0. In the semifinals, Barnik upset the No.4 seed, Amy Zhang from Rutgers, 6-0, 6-4. With the win, Bartnik advances to the finals, which will be played Monday, October 12 at 9 a.m.
Bartnik also took part in the A-flight doubles, with partner Natasha Makarova, The duo, who were seeded No.4 in the bracket, were upset by Vicky Brook and Stephanie Kent of Yale, 8-5. In the consolation draw, they then fell to Valerie Behr and Lucy Dogherty from UNC Greensboro, 8-2.
In the B flight of doubles, Chelsea Davis and Carling Donovan fell to Princeton's No.3 seeded pair of Ashley Blakely and Rachel Saiontz, 8-1, and then fell in the consolation bracket to LIU's Tysha Blessington and Alexandra Pavlovic, 8-5.
In the C flight of doubles, Natlalia Christenson and Eliza Matache fell to the No.1 seeds, Emily Ellis and Kat Sorokko of Brown, 8-4, and lost their consolation match to Harvard's Samantha Gridley and Louise Laciny, 8-4. In the D flight, Katarina Kovacevic and Dina Shapoval lost to Syracuse's Katlun Haycock and Allison Haynes, 8-5.
The tournament also saw several Lions take part in the individual part of the draws. B singles saw the play of Makarova, who fell in the first round 6-1, 6-3, to Cornell's Christina Ordaway. Makarova was able to take her first round consolation match, however, beating Ira Alexsona from St. John's, 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (6).
C singles saw Eliza Matache win her first round match, a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Lucy Dougherty of UNC Greensboro. In the quarterfinals, Matcache fell to Buffalo's Adi Petrova, 6-0, 6-1. Matache was then entered into the consolation draw, and will face NC State's Diana Mortlock.
The D singles bracket saw senior Carling Donovan win her first round match against Tugcan Belfin Sunbul of Seton Hall, 6-3, 2-6, 1-0(7), before falling to the No.2 seed, Jesse Adler of Dartmouth, 6-2, 6-4.
In the F flight, Chelsea Davis had a first-round win over Michelle Weerasinghe from Seton Hall, 6-2, 6-1, before falling to Jess Ahn of Army, 7-5, 6-3.
In the G flight, Katarina Kovacevic lost in the first round to MIkayla Rogers of UNC Greensboro, 6-2, 6-0, while Dina Shapoval lost in the first round of the same bracket, 7-5, 6-1 to Ksenia Cheryshova of FDU. Shapoval lost her consolation match 6-4, 6-3 to Basak Gone of Binghampton, while Kovacevic beat Penn's Caitlin Bolnick, 6-1, 6-0. She advanced to the quarterfinals with her win, but also lost to Cheryshova, 6-4,6 -2.
Complete results of the matches, including Bartnik's final, will be posted at the completion of the tournament, Monday afternoon.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
Monday, April 12
