October 6, 2009

HJERTQUIST ROLLS TO SINGLES TITLE AT ODU COLLEGIATE INVITE
Complete Results

NORFOLK, Va. – With four straight NCAA Tournament berths under its belt, the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s tennis team has a standard of excellence to uphold.

That standard seems to be in good hands thanks to bright, young talents like freshman Josefin Hjertquist (Spanga, Sweden). The first-year star rolled to the singles title at A-2 during this past weekend’s Old Dominion Collegiate Invitational with a perfect 4-0 mark.

Her weekend started with a dominating victory over Lauren Clifton of Hofstra, 6-1, 6-0. She battled through her next match for a three set victory over Ivana Petrich of Delaware. A straight set victory over Vicky Sekely of Georgetown set up a championship duel with Marlen Mesgarzadeh of William & Mary. The two battled to a tiebreaker, which Hjertquist came out the victor, 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (7).

Sophomore Ana Bara (Oradea, Romania) also had a strong weekend, recording a 2-1 mark in the A-1 Singles Tournament. She dominated her first two opponents with straight set victories until running into Jordan Jenkins of Liberty, who needed tiebreakers in each set to come away a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) winner.

Bara then joined senior Olena Leonchuk (Kiev, Ukraine) to reach the doubles semi-finals with a 8-1 pounding of Brittney Morgan and Alyssa Works of Howard.

The Rams conclude their fall campaign with the ITA East Regional later this month in Blacksburg, Va.

Ana Bara – Singles A-1
d. Elizabeth Adams (Pittsburgh), 6-1, 6-4
d. Anik Cepeda (William & Mary), 6-0, 6-1
Jordan Jenkins (Liberty) d. Bara, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5)

Olena Leonchuk – Singles A-1
Bye
Nina Vulovich (William & Mary) d. Leonchuk, 6-3, 7-5

Alex Bara – Singles A-2
Bye
d. Kinsey Pate (JMU), 6-1, 6-2
Marlen Mesgarzadeh (William & Mary) d. Bara, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (4)

Josefin Hjertquist – Singles A-2
d. Lauren Clifton (Hofstra), 6-1, 6-0
d. Ivana Petrich (Delaware), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (6)
d. Vicky Sekely (Georgetown), 7-6 (8), 6-2
d. Marlen Mesgarzadeh (William & Mary), 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (7)

Doubles – Hjertquist/Alexa Bara
Bye
Adams/Benic (Pittsburgh) d. Hjertquist/Bara, 9-8 (3)

Doubles – Ana Bara/Leonchuk
Bye