Tide Wins Two Singles Titles at Roberta Alison
9/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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Sophomore Ashley Bentley and freshman Jessica Runge claimed two singles championships Sunday at the 19th Annual Roberta Alison Fall Classic at the University of Alabama Tennis Complex.
Alabama split four finals matches in the last day of competition. Bentley defeated Texas Tech’s Tara Browning 6-0, 6-1 in the finals of flight “B” after coming from behind to win in three sets on Saturday against Auburn-Montgomery’s Khady Berthe. Runge was scheduled to play fellow freshman teammate Hilary Barnes in the flight “H” championship, but Barnes was forced to withdraw due to an injury.
In other finals matches, the Tide’s Melissa Minor lost to South Alabama’s Maria Zivicicova 6-1, 6-4 in flight “D” while Alabama’s Sonja Nikolic lost to Mississippi State’s Hayley Rudman 6-2, 6-1 in flight “G”.
“I thought it was a great tournament overall,” said Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz. “We got a tremendous amount of experience this weekend by playing 35 total matches, but it is a good measuring stick for the rest of the season to be able to identify what we need to work on and what is working for us.”
In consolation matches for the Tide, junior Robin Stephenson defeated South Alabama’s Ana Rupic 6-2, 6-2 in the flight “A” third place match and junior Melissa Day beat Auburn’s Ashley Cowart 6-3, 6-0 in flight “C”. Sophomore Mari Muller lost to Louisville’s Robyn White 6-2, 6-3 in flight “E”.
The Tide went 26-9 in singles and doubles combined. Bama completed the tournament finishing 17-6 with two championships and two second place finishes in singles and 9-3 with one championship and three second place finishes in doubles.
Mississippi State led all teams winning four of the eight singles titles in the tournament. Winning for the Bulldogs’ were Zsuzsanna Fodor in flight “A”, Tarryn Rudman in flight “C”, Polina Kokoulina in flight “F” and Hayley Rudman in flight “G”. South Alabama’s Maria Zivicicova and Auburn-Montgomery’s Anna Moncolova claimed the remaining two titles in singles play with wins in flights “D” and “E”, respectively.
