Murray State University Athletics
Lasks win Hard Courts doubles, qualify for ITA national tournament
7/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Anna and Rachael Lask, who will be juniors in the 2005-06 season at Murray State, won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Hard Courts Championships doubles title on July 20, qualifying them for the ITA National Summer Championships on Aug. 13-16 at Indiana University.
The Hard Courts Championships -- a part of the Midwest Region -- was held July 16-20 at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The tournaments are part of the ITA Summer Circuit.
"This was one of the top tournaments of the summer," said Rachael Lask. "We played a team from the University of Kentucky in the quarterfinals, and after we got past that, we played really well."
The Lasks -- natives of Louisville, Ky. -- beat Caroline Winebrenner and Liis Sober of UK 8-5 in the quarters after beating Jenna Nussbaum of Bowling Green State and independent player Kate Turvy 8-3 in their first round after receiving an opening-round bye.
In the semifinals, the fifth-seeded Lasks faced No. 2 seed Emily Mowery of Miami (Fla.) and Chelsea Nusslock of Wisconsin, pushing past that team 8-2 to coast into the championship match.
"Everything just clicked for us," Anna said. "In the other matches, one of us would be off or we would struggle with something, but in the semifinals, we were having fun out there. We could hit the shots we usually hit."
In the finals, the Lasks took on Brianna Knue of Illinois and Elizabeth Lumpkin of UCLA -- the No. 3-seeded team that upset top-seeded Amanda Taylor of Vanderbilt and Alison Silverio of Georgia Tech 8-2 in the semifinals -- and came away with an 8-6 win.
"We played a lot of players we would not see during the regular season," Anna said. "Players from UCLA, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin -- players from all over."
"As far as I know, we have never had anyone win one of the ITA Summer Circuit tournaments on either the men's or women's side before," said Murray State women's tennis head coach Connie Keasling. "This is huge for Murray State and MSU tennis."
The Lasks also competed in singles play at the National Hard Court Championships, and each was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Rachael beat Hanna Hager of IPFW 6-2, 6-0 before sweeping Winebrenner 6-3, 6-2. She then met Knue -- her doubles opponent in the championship match -- and fell in the singles quarterfinals 6-0, 6-1.
Anna took a 6-1, 6-0 opening-round win from Ashley Jones of Ohio Northern before beating Kelsey Jakupcin of Bowling Green State 6-4, 6-0. In the quarters, Anna fell to Silverio 6-1, 6-4.
Prior to playing in the National Summer Championships, the Lasks will take part in another ITA regional tournament in Bloomington, Ind., on July 30-Aug. 2.
