Sept. 27, 2008
NORFOLK, Va. - The Kennesaw State Women's Tennis team continued to get solid play from its young lineup Friday, going 6-4 in the doubles competition on the first day of Old Dominion University's Hampton Roads Open.
"Today was an interesting day of doubles for the women," said Kennesaw State Head Coach Brandon Padgett. "We played some very strong doubles early in the day, and then looked extremely drained by the time we started our next match."
The Owls freshmen duo of Alena Sergeychik and MacKenzie Swindall turned in the best performance of the day, winning a pair of matches to advance to the C flight semifinals. Sergeychik and Swindall rolled in their first match, cruising past Morgan State's Sidnee Collins and Pola Olzcak 8-1 to move onto the quarters and a match with the flight's top-seeded pairing.
The Owls young duo handled the pressure like a couple of veterans, taking out Queens' team of Taylor Barber and Jessie Franklin 8-4. Their streak came to an end in the semis when they were downed 8-4 by Atlantic Sun Conference rival Campbell's team of Tanya Ahuja and Cortney Armitano.
Ahuja and Armitano reached the semifinals after eliminating the Owls team of Morgan Carney and Agatha Palider 8-4 in the quarters. Carney and Palider reached the second round with a convincing 8-1 win over Hofstra's Tracey Ferrar and Samantha Sharifi.
"We need to do a better job of recovering so we can be more ready in the future," added Padgett. "Even Mackenzie and Alena started their second match off slowly, and they never really seemed into their semi-final match."
Courtney Cox and Lindsay Dillon also faced a Hofstra opponent in the C flight, but with a different result. Cox and Dillon couldn't handle the Pride's team of Morganne Downing and Brooke Sailor in the Round of 16, falling 5-8 to move into the consolation bracket. There, they redeemed themselves with an 8-2 win over Morgan State's Frances Ferdinand and Blair Fleet.
The Owls final action occurred in the B flight where Vera Shkundina and Ayano Tanaka teamed up to go 1-1. They looked in control their entire first match, easily overcoming Hofstra's Christie Gattelaro and Stacey Kent 8-3. The pair wasn't as sharp in their semifinal match, falling 3-8 to Richmond's Helen Cunningham and Kelly Tidwell.
"I hope that our singles play is even stronger than the doubles that we played today," concluded Padgett.
Singles play will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. The tournament draw and updated results can be found at the USTA's Tennis Link website or by visiting the Kennesaw State Athletics homepage and clicking on the Live Stats link on the right-hand side of the page.
Doubles Results
B - QF Vera Shkundina/Ayano Tanaka d. Gattelaro/Kent (Hofstra) 8-3
B - SF Cunningham/Tidwell (Richmond) d. Shkundina/Tanaka 8-3
C - 16 Alena Sergeychik/MacKenzie Swindall d. Collins/Olzcak (Morgan State) 8-1
C - QF Sergeychik/Swindall d. #1 Barber/Franklin (Queens) 8-4
C - SF Ahuja/Armitano (Campbell) d. Sergeychik/Swindall 8-4
C - 16 Morgan Carney/Agatha Palider d. Ferrar/Sharifi (Hofstra) 8-1
C - QF Ahuja/Armitano (Canpbell) d. Carney/Palider 8-4
C - 16 Downing/Sailer (Hofstra) d. Courtney Cox/Lindsay Dillon 8-5
Cons. Cox/Dillon d. Ferdinand/Fleet (Morgan State) 8-2
