September 13, 2009

BARA, LEONCHUK, HJERTQUIST ALL POST STRONG SHOWINGS AT FALL OPENER
Full Bracket

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Both youth and experience were highlighted in the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s tennis fall opener at the 17th Annual William & Mary Fall Invitational this weekend.

Senior Olena Leonchuk (Kiev, Ukraine) (left) , sophomore Alex Bara (Oradea, Romania) (above) and freshman Josefin Hjertquist (Spanga, Sweden) all posted 3-1 marks over the three days.

Bara, who was seeded third in the Singles Flight B bracket, dropped the opening match to Helen Cunningham of Richmond (6-4, 6-2). The second-year standout rebounded quickly with straight set wins over Kelly Holtzhausen of East Tennessee State (6-2, 6-3) and Courtney Rauscher of Virginia Tech (6-3, 6-3). She then faced off against teammate Laura Burns in the consolation finals and came out a 6-2, 6-0 victor.

Leonchuk opened the weekend with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Sarah Lotto of Penn State before falling to Kristin Horton of Harvard, 6-4, 7-5. She rebounded nicely with straight set wins over Karina Kedzo of East Tennessee State (6-2, 6-1) and Shannon Betts of Virginia Tech (6-3, 6-4) to round out the weekend.

Hjertquist was impressive in her Black & Gold debut with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Sarah Henderson of Penn State and a dominating 6-2, 6-0 victory over the top-seed in the Singles Flight D bracket, Lisa Miller of Maryland. After falling to Sophie Chang of Harvard, 6-2, 6-1, Hjertquist came back to oust the second-seed in the bracket as well, Alex Lehman, 6-3, 6-1.

Junior Kateryna Yergina (Kiev, Ukraine) got off a blistering start in the Singles Flight A bracket with straight set wins over fourth-seeded Ragini Acharya of William & Mary (7-5, 6-4) and Yasmin Hamza of Virginia Tech (6-3, 6-4). Her hot streak ended when she ran into Hideko Tachibana of Harvard, the eventual champion of the bracket, who dropped Yergina, 7-6, 3-4 (ret.).

Ana Bara – Singles Flight A
L, Martha Blakley (Tech), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 (5)
L, Lindsey Hardenbergh (UVA), 6-0, 6-0
W, Erin Clark (Richmond), 6-3, 4-6, 10-5

Kateryna Yergina – Singles Flight A
W, #4 Ragini Acharya (W&M), 7-5, 6-4
W, Yasmin Hamza (Tech), 6-3, 6-4
L, Hideko Tachibana (Harvard), 7-6, 3-4

Laura Burns – Singles Flight B
L, Christina Newman (Tech), 6-1, 6-3
W, Maggie MacKeever (Maryland), 6-2, 7-5
W, Kelly Tidwell (Richmond), 6-1, 6-3
L, Alex Bara (VCU), 6-2, 6-0

Alex Bara – Singles Flight B
L, Helen Cunningham (Richmond), 6-4, 6-2
W, Kelly Holtzhausen (ETSU), 6-2, 6-3
W, Courtney Rauscher (Tech), 6-3, 6-3
W, Laura Burns, 6-2, 6-0

Olena Leonchuck – Singles Flight C
W, Sarah Lotto (PSU), 6-1, 6-2
L, Kristin Norton (Harvard), 6-4, 7-5
W, Karina Kedzo (ETSU), 6-2, 6-1
W, Shannon Betts (Tech), 6-3, 6-4