St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Columbia Classic
Women's Tennis Opens Season Strong At Columbia Classic
9/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 22, 2008
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The St. John's women's tennis team opened play at the Columbia Classic this past weekend at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center on the campus of Columbia University. The Red Storm competed in individual competitions in doubles and singles play over the three days, as the squad faced opponents from Columbia and Harvard, and had a strong outing.
"It was a very competitive tournament for us," said head coach Gemma Alexander-Mozeak. "We can really learn a lot about our team when we play against tough opponents. I am happy with our play against these two great programs to begin the season."
Freshman Nakita Austin led the team with a 3-1 singles record. Austin reached the finals of the Flight B singles draw after impressive wins over Columbia's Linnae Goswami in the opening round, Harvard's Louise Laciny in the quarterfinals and her teammate, freshman Ksenia Mikhaylova, in the semis. Austin battled in a long three-set match against the Lions' Marlena Hall in the finals, but it was the senior Hall who outlasted the freshman as the match was narrowly decided by two points in the third-set tiebreaker 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5).
Mikhaylova finished the Classic with the Red Storm's second-best singles record, 2-1. She reached the semifinals of the Flight B singles draw, but Austin ended her play with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Junior Ira Aleksova earned a first round bye in the Flight A singles draw and defeated Caroline Davis of Harvard, 6-3, 6-4, in the quarterfinals, before falling to the Crimson's Stephanie Zilberman, 6-2, 6-1.
Sophomore Jenny Yonkus fell in the opening round of the Flight A singles draw to Columbia's Shoko Okuda, but defeated Harvard's Davis, 7-6(5), 7-6(2) to reach the finals of the consolation bracket. However, Yonkus fell to Samantha Gridley from Harvard, 6-2, 6-3.
Senior Gabija Gasiunaite picked up the other singles win for St. John's with a victory over the Crimson's Rachel Gotlieb in the Flight B consolation bracket. Gasiunaite finished the weekend with a 1-2 singles record. Freshmen Ece Firat and Joanna Zwirbulis ended play at the Classic with 0-1 and 0-2 singles records, respectively.
In doubles action, the tandem of Austin and Zwirbulis reached the semifinals of the Doubles draw after an 8-0 victory over Gottlieb from Harvard and Celine Pascheles of Columbia, followed by a default win in the quarters. In the semis matchup with the Crimson's Davis and Camille Jania, Austin and Zwirbulis trailed 4-1 and fought back to within one game twice at 4-3 and 5-4, but Davis and Jania held on for an 8-6 win.
The doubles teams of Aleksova/Gasiunaite and Mikhaylova/Yonkus both made it to the quarterfinals of the Doubles draw before being defeated.
The St. John's women's tennis team returns to the courts next weekend, Sept. 26-28, when the squad travels to West Point, N.Y. to take part in the Eastern Championships, hosted by Army University.
