St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Eastern Championships
Women's Tennis Has Impressive Showing At Eastern Championships
9/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 29, 2008
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The St. John's women's tennis team had a very impressive outing at the Eastern Championships, hosted by Army, this past weekend. The team was led by freshman Ece Firat, who finished with a team-best 3-1 singles record and reached the finals of the Fourth Singles bracket.
Firat earned a first round bye in the draw, then defeated Stephanie Gimenez of UMass on Friday. In the round of 16 on Saturday, Firat fought the bracket's No. 4 seed, Stony Brook's Anna Pieschl, to a straight-set win, 6-4, 7-6(9), to set up a showdown with the No. 2 seed, BreAnn Cheung of UConn. The freshman defeated Cheung, 6-2, 7-5, and earned a spot to play for the bracket championship. Firat's momentum was eventually stopped by the No. 1 seed, Belfin Sunbul of Seton Hall, as Sunbul won the match 6-2, 6-2.
Freshman Ksenia Mikhaylova also battled her way through the Fourth Singles bracket, finishing with a 2-1 record on the weekend after reaching the draw's quarterfinal round. Classmate Nakita Austin was outstanding once again for the Red Storm. Austin made it to the semifinal round of the Second Singles bracket after picking up a victory over the draw's No. 1 seed, Alice Chen of UMBC, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7. She ended the weekend with a 2-1 record.
Senior Gabija Gasiunaite reached the finals of the Third Singles consolation bracket and ended the weekend with a 2-2 record, while fellow senior, Ira Aleksova, finished with a 1-1 mark out of the First Singles bracket.
In doubles play, the tandem of sophomore Jenny Yonkus and freshman Joanna Zwirbulis reached the semifinals of the First Doubles bracket with victories over pairs from UConn and Columbia. The draw's No. 2 seed, the pair of Niki Flach/Sarah Giles-Madden of Army, defeated Yonkus/Zwirbulis 8-5, en route to their championship run.
The Red Storm returns to the courts on Oct. 11-13, when the squad takes part in the USTA Invitational at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
