Murray State University Athletics
Racers fare well at Mizzou Four-Way
9/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Murray State women's tennis team opened its 2003-04 schedule at the Mizzou Four-Way at Columbia, Mo., last weekend, and came away with two consolation bracket champions in the flighted tournament.
Senior Melissa Spencer fell in her opening match to Missouri's Katka Sevcikova, 4-6, 6-2 (10-7 in the tie-breaking game), but went on to beat Kristen Steinbeck of Kansas 6-1, 6-0, Laura Gravino of Illinois State 6-2, 1-6 (10-6 in the tie-breaking game) and Brittany Brown of Kansas 7-6, 6-7 (10-7 in the tie-breaking game) to win the consolation bracket of Flight 1.
Freshman Rachel Lask also won the consolation bracket in Flight 2, opening with a loss to Missouri's Mary Berry, 4-6, 6-4 (10-5 in the tie-breaking game), but rebounding to beat Lucie Ruskova of Missouri 7-6, 6-3, Ashley Fillberth of Kansas 6-2, 7-5, and Kelly Crull of Missouri 6-2, 6-0.
Spencer and junior Jaclyn Leeper advanced to the semifinals of the doubles bracket, beating Missouri's Crull and Olshanskaya 8-2 in the eight-game pro set and Kansas's Brown and Christina Skoda 9-7 before falling in the semis to Missouri's Urska Juric and Sevcikova 8-3.
Sophomore Tami McQueen advanced to the semifinals of the consolation bracket of Flight 2, falling to Missouri's Kristina Olshanskaya 6-0, 6-1, before beating Fillberth 7-5, 6-4 and falling in the consolation semis to Crull 6-0, 6-3.
In singles play, freshman Anna Lask went 2-1, beating Julie Josbena of Missouri 6-3, 6-2, falling to Kansas's Emily Haylock 6-3, 6-3, and beating Skoda 6-4, 6-4.
Freshman Casady Pruitt went 1-1, beating Ruskova 6-2, 6-2, before falling to Berry 7-5, 6-4, while freshman Christina Hall also went 1-1, beating Crull 7-5, 6-7 (10-8 in the tie-breaking game) before falling to Olshanskaya 6-1, 6-2.
Junior Jennifer Ward beat Missouri's Erika Miller 6-1, 6-1, after falling to Skoda 3-6, 6-3 (10-8 in the tie-breaking game) and Gravino 6-4, 7-5, while Leeper fall to Illinois State's Liina Suuvarik (ranked 33rd in the nation last week) 6-4, 6-3 and Brown 6-3, 6-3.
In doubles play, the Lask sisters went 2-1, beating Gravio and Emilie Sechard 8-2 in the eight-game pro set before falling to Juric and Sevcikova 8-5, then beating Ruskova and Hana Kraftova 8-2.
Pruitt and Ward beat Gravino and Sechard 8-3 after falling to Brown and Skoda 8-4, while Hall and McQueen fell to Kraftova and Ruskova 8-2 and Ashley Fillbert and Luiza Loureiro of Kansas 8-5.
The Racers continue their fall play at the Tennessee-Chattanooga Fall Classic, another flighted tournament, on Sept. 26-28.
