St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Boston University
Red Storm Wraps Up Weekend Action In New England
2/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
BOSTON - The St. John's women's tennis team continued the early portion of its 2012 season in New England this weekend, but lost matches to two defending conference champions in Dartmouth and Boston University. On Saturday, the 57th-ranked Big Green topped the Red Storm in a tight 4-3 match, before the Terriers claimed a 5-2 win over STJ on Sunday afternoon.
St. John's (0-3) upperclass and No. 1 and No. 2 singles duo of senior Joanna Zwirbulis and junior Nevena Selakovic went unbeaten in singles play this weekend as they both improved to 2-1 on the young campaign.
In the opening match of the weekend, the Red Storm hung tough with the nationally-ranked and defending Ivy League Champion Big Green (2-3). Dartmouth jumped out to the early 1-0 lead over the Red Storm with three-straight doubles victories.
The match was quickly leveled after Dartmouth forfeited the No. 6 singles position. The Big Green took the next two matches at the No. 3 and No. 5 slots, but the duo of Selakovic and Zwirbulis won at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, to get STJ level once again at 3-3.
With just one point left up for grabs, St. John's sophomore Diamond Adams won the opening set of her No. 4 clash against Dartmouth's Jeri Reichel by a 6-4 margin. Reichel rallied to win the second set by a narrow 7-6 score line and would conclude the match with a 6-1 win in the third and final set to give the Big Green a 4-3 win in a match that took over four hours.
The defending America East Champion Terriers (3-0) also jumped out to the 1-0 lead on Sunday afternoon by taking all three doubles matches by an 8-3 margin.
Boston University would go on to win singles matches at the No. 6, No. 5 and No. 3 slots to seal its third-consecutive win and take a 4-0 lead. Zwirbulis won her No. 2 singles matches by a decisive 6-2, 6-2 margin to cut the deficit to 4-1. After a BU win at the No. 4 slot, Selakovic would put an end to the weekend with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Vivien Laszloffy at the top slot.
The Red Storm returns to action next weekend when it travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on another Ivy League foe in Cornell on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 10 a.m.
To stay up to date with everything St. John's tennis this season be sure to track the squad by following @STJ_Tennis on Twitter and join the conversation by using the newly-created #stjtennis hashtag.
Match #1
#57 Dartmouth 4, St. John's 3
Singles competition
1. Nevena Selakovic (STJ) def. Akiko Okuda (DART) 6-3, 6-3
2. Joanna Zwirbulis (STJ) def. Janet Liu (DART) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 2-3, retired
3. R. Decker-Sadowski (DART) def. Ece Firat (STJ) 6-1, 6-1
4. Jeri Reichel (DART) def. Diamond Adams (STJ) 4-6, 7-6, 6-1
5. Shelley Carpeni (DART) def. Nakita Austin (STJ) 6-3, 6-3
6. Lyubov Pogirbnyak (STJ) def. Theresa Smith (DART), by default
Doubles competition
1. Akiko Okuda / Jeri Reichel (DART) def. Diamond Adams / Nevena Selakovic (STJ) 8-7
2. Janet Liu / R. Decker-Sadowski (DART) def. Ece Firat / Nakita Austin (STJ) 8-3
3. Shelley Carpeni / Theresa Smith (DART) def. Lyubov Pogirbnyak / Joanna Zwirbulis (STJ) 8-2
Match Notes:
St. John's 0-2
Dartmouth 1-3; National ranking #57
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,3,5,1,2,4)
T-4:00
Match #2
Boston University 5, St. John's 2
Singles competition
1. Nevena Selakovic (STJ) def. Vivien Laszloffy (BU) 7-5, 6-2
2. Joanna Zwirbulis (STJ) def. L. Athanasiadis (BU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Stefanie Nunic (BU) def. Diamond Adams (STJ) 6-0, 6-1
4. Monika Mical (BU) def. Nakita Austin (STJ) 6-1, 6-3
5. Jessi Linero (BU) def. Lyubov Pogirbnyak (STJ) 6-0, 6-1
6. Sami Lieb (BU) def. Terri Thomas (STJ) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. L. Athanasiadis / Jessi Linero (BU) def. Nevena Selakovic / Diamond Adams (STJ) 8-3
2. Vivien Laszloffy / Monika Mical (BU) def. Nakita Austin / Ece Firat (STJ) 8-3
3. Sami Lieb / Kendal Drake (BU) def. Lyubov Pogirbnyak / Joanna Zwirbulis (STJ) 8-3
Match Notes:
St. John's 0-3
Boston University 3-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,5,3,2,4,1)
Players Mentioned
