Troy University Athletics
Troy University
Individual Play
Tennis Team Fares Well In First Event
9/17/2007 5:00:00 AM | Tennis
The Trojans had two players advance to the finals of their draw in the tournament. Stephanie Viera, who was seeded third in the White Draw, advanced with victories over Martina Ce of Southern Illinois (2-6, 7-5, 6-4), Tatiana Feit of Mississippi State (6-4, 6-1) and Paula Cheuminska of Arkansas State (4-6, 6-1, 6-1). Upon reaching the finals on Sunday, however, Viera lost in straight sets (6-3, 6-0) to top-seeded Daniela Juskova of Mississippi State.
Juskova also defeated Troy's Caroline Jouanin in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-1. Jouanin advanced to the semifinals with wins over Rone van Wyk of Arkansas State (6-0, 7-5) and Martina Dessbesell of Jacksonville State (6-7, 6-3, 6-1).
Martina Arres also advanced to the finals of the Silver Draw before losing. She downed Anne Tilton of Southern Illinois (6-1, 6-0) in the opening round, Ekin Safir of Memphis (6-2, 6-1) in the second round and Menna Kamal of Arkansas State (6-3, 6-3) in the semifinals. Arres lost the title match to Leydi Zora of Arkansas State 6-1, 6-2.
“The results from the Ole Miss Tournament are very encouraging, but to win a conference championship or an NCAA regional, you have to show up for all three days, and we didn't do that,” head coach Eric Hayes said.
Two Trojans competed in singles in the Blue Draw. Annabelle Bares defeated Julie Mazinova of Louisiana-Lafayette (6-2, 2-6, 6-2) in the opening round but then lost to top-seeded Monika Dancevic of Georgia 2-6, 7-6 (4) and 4-6
Rawai Elsisi was seeded third in the Blue Draw, but was upset by Naoko Ueshima of Georgia 6-4, 6-0 in the opening round. Elsisi bounced back, however, and raced through the Blue Draw Consolation bracket with wins over Stephanie Dellocono of Southern Miss (6-2, 6-1), Kim VanderHorst of Louisiana Lafayette (6-2, 6-2) and Mazinova, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to take the consolation title.
The other Trojan to compete in singles was Leonie Guijt, who upset top-seeded Elna DeVilliers of Mississippi State in the first round of the Red Draw 6-2, 3-6 and 6-4. Guijt then beat Jessica Flannery of Southern Illinois (6-0, 6-0) before falling to Maria Oprea of Arkansas State in the semifinals (6-2, 6-0).
“We played well on the first two days of the tournament and advanced to the finals of a couple of the draws, but we weren't able to finish the way we want,” Hayes said. “There was a lot of good competition in this tournament, but we have to be able to finish if we are going to have the kind of season we want to have."
The Trojans also competed in doubles competition during the weekend. The team of Elsisi and Guijt advanced to the finals of the Blue Draw with wins over teams from Southern Illinois (8-3), ULL (8-3) and Southern Miss (8-2). They were not able to finish, however, and dropped the championship match 8-6 to the team of Michaela Babicova and Katie Welch from South Alabama.
Bares and Viera also teamed up in the Blue Draw, but lost consecutive matched, both by scores of 8-4, to teams from Georgia and Mississippi State. In the Red Draw for double, the Troy team of Joanin and Arres fared little better, dropping consecutive matches to teams from Southern Miss (8-0) and Southern Illinois (8-4).
The Trojans will be back in action has they travel to
