Alabama Tennis Has Strong Opening Day at Brown Invitational
10/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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The University of Alabama women’s team won twelve of fourteen singles matches on the first day of the Brown Invitational in Providence, Rhode Island.
“I felt good about our performance,” UA head coach Jenny Mainz said. “We won twelve of fourteen singles matches. We had a strong first day.”
Senior Sophie Cremers won her first round match over Alli Pillenger of Harvard 6-2, 7-6. Cremers also won her second round match to advance to the semi-finals of singles flight “A”. Also in flight “A”, Marie-France Lord-Andrade defeated Brown’s Alex Arlak 6-2, 2-6, 10-6 in the first round. A ten point tie-breaker is played in place of third set. Lord-Andrade also advanced to flight “A” semi-finals with a second round win.
In singles flight “B”, Nathalie Koppelle won 6-0, 6-3 over Ashley Hyotte of Harvard. Koppelle advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the second round against Syracuse’s Trine Lief Juliessen. Bama’s Ashley Bentley won 6-1, 6-0 over Chervin Saeginia of Syracuse in the first round. Bentley then defeated Brown’s Stephanie Falconi 6-2, 7-6 to advance to the flight “B” semi-finals.
Melissa Minor became the fifth Alabama player to advance to a flight semi-final with her win over Wei Ming Wong of Syracuse. In the first round of flight “C”, Bentley won 7-6, 6-3 defeating Lyly Cao Minh of Harvard. Natalie McElveen defeated Dartmouth’s Anne Scott 6-1, 6-2 in the first round. McElveen lost her second round match to Alana Marcu of Boston University 7-6, 6-3.
In singles flight “D”, Alabama’s Julie Ferguson won 6-4, 6-0 over Dartmouth’s Stephanie Mathew in the first round. Ferguson then lost her second round match.
The Crimson Tide continued its success in doubles by winning all three matches. Cremers and McElveen defeated Brown’s Arlak and Victoria Beck 8-5 in doubles flight “A”. In doubles flight “B”, Bama’s Koppelle teamed with Bentley for a 9-7 win over Alison Hashmall and Susan Meng of Princeton. Minor and Lord-Andrade defeated Kristen Carlin and Celene Chang of Princeton 8-0 in doubles flight “C”. Ferguson matched up with one of Brown’s players to play doubles to pick up another win.
“This is an chance for us to see players from other regions,” Mainz said. “It is a great opportunity for the team.”
The Brown Invitational will continue to be played on Saturday and Sunday. Millie Begovic will have her first round singles match of the pre-qualifying round of the Riviera All-American in Los Angeles on Saturday.
