September 22, 2009

LEONCHUK LEADS DOMINATING PERFORMANCE AT MONARCH COLLEGIATE INVITE

NORFOLK, Va. – Last spring, the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s tennis team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, making it their fourth straight trip to the postseason.

If the fall is any indication of how the spring will go, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee may be writing down VCU into the bracket for a fifth straight year.

Senior Olena Leonchuk (Kiev, Ukraine) led a dominating performance by the Black & Gold at this past weekend’s Monarch Collegiate Invitational, in which all four Rams made the semi-finals.

Leonchuk came out of the tournament with the championship thanks to three consecutive straight set victories, only dropping four games along the way. She opened the weekend with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Sydnee Collins of Morgan State and continued her strong play with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Marija Citic of Old Dominion. Teammate Ana Bara (Oradea, Romania) gave Leonchuk more of a challenge, but the veteran was still able to come out with a 6-1, 6-2 win before earning the withdraw in the final match against the other Bara sister, Alex (Oradea, Romania).

The only sets any of the Rams players dropped was to their teammates with no one giving up more than four games in a set.

Both Bara sisters rolled into the semis and freshman Josefin Hjertquist (Spanga, Sweden) posted decisive wins in her first two matches before battling through a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Irina Dementyeva (ODU).

The doubles side of the tournament was the same way with both VCU pairings reaching the finals. Ana Bara and Hjertquist tallied two 8-0 wins and Alex Bara and Leonchuk followed suit with an 8-0 and an 8-6 win before the pairings decided to split the doubles championship among the four teammates.

VCU is back in action in two weeks at the ODU Classic with action starting on Friday, Oct. 2nd.

Ana Bara
d. Frances Ferdinand (Morgan St.), 6-1, 6-1
d. Juliana Pires (ODU), 6-4, 6-4
Leonchuck d. Bara, 6-1, 6-2

Olena Leonchuk
d. Sydnee Collins (Morgan St.), 6-0, 6-0
d. Marija Citic (ODU), 6-0, 6-1
d. Ana Bara, 6-1, 6-2
d. Alex Bara, withdraw

Josefin Hjertquist
d. Brittany Foster (Norfolk St.), 6-1, 6-1
d. Pola Olczak (Morgan St.), 6-1, 6-0
d. Irina Dementyeva, 7-6 (2), 6-2
Alex Bara d. Hjertquist, 7-6 (5), 6-4

Alex Bara
d. Alexis McCoy (Morgan St.), 6-0, 6-1
d. Diana Ivanova (ODU), 6-2, 6-0
d. Hjertquist, 7-6 (5), 6-4
Leonchuk d. Bara, withdraw

Doubles
Ana Bara/Hjertquist d. Vikotriya Lukyanenko/Pola Olczak (Morgan State), 8-0
d. Marija Citic/Juliana Pires (ODU), 8-0

Alex Bara/Leonchuk d. Naeemah Brooks/Brittany Foster (Norfolk State), 8-0
d. Irina Dementyeva/Diana Ivanova (ODU), 8-6