St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Competes In Columbia Invitational
9/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NEW YORK - The St. John's women's tennis team wrapped up play on Sunday at the Columbia Invitational in the 2010 fall season opener.
The Red Storm was led by junior Joanna Zwirbulis, who finished second in singles flight "A." Zwirbulis opened the tournament by defeating Columbia's Katerina Kovacevic 6-3, 6-3 before knocking out teammate Ece Firat 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals. Zwirbulis then defeated second-seeded Alexa Ely from Penn 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 to advance to the finals in the top flight. Top-seeded Monica Chow from Princeton put an end to Zwirbulis' run, defeating the junior in straight sets 6-0, 6-2 to win the flight.
After dropping her opening match, junior Nakita Austin rebounded to win her next three matches including the consolation bracket final in flight "A." Austin defeated teammate Ksenia Mikhaylova 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 in the first round of the consolation bracket and then knocked out Tiana Takenaga from Columbia 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 to reach the consolation final. Austin continued her great play defeating Columbia's Ioana Alecsiu in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 to win the flight "A" consolation bracket.
St. John's Diamond Adams, Alyssa Liantonio and Jenny Yonkus all won their opening matches in singles flight "B," but were all knocked down to the consolation bracket in their next match. Yonkus would later defeat Liantonio 1-6, 6-4, 10-6, and Adams would knock out Columbia's Bessie Rentzler 6-0, 6-4.
The Red Storm assembled four doubles teams including one composed of Zwirbulis and Penn's Emma Whitfield. Zwirbulis and Whitfield opened the doubles round by defeating Columbia's Lucy Leopold and Sydney Clark squad 8-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. The mix-and-match duo then defeated fourth-seeded Natasha Makarova and Bianca Sanon from Columbia 8-3 to advance to the semifinals. Their run came to an end in the semifinals as Princeton's eventual doubles champion Sarah Hoffman and Chow won the match 8-3 over Zwirbulis and Whitfield.
Firat and Yonkus teamed up for doubles competition, winning their first match over Columbia's Kovacevic and Natalia Christenson 8-6. Unfortunately, the duo also ran into Chow and Hoffman who won the match 9-8(6) over the Red Storm pair. Austin/Adams and Liantonio/Mikhaylova were each dropped to the consolation bracket after their first match but would rebound to win two matches apiece.
St. John's returns to action this weekend in West Point, N.Y. to participate in the Eastern Championships from Sept. 24 - Sept. 26.
