University of Minnesota Athletics
Day 4: ITA Midwest Regional Women's Tennis Tournament
10/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
The action started early at the Baseline Tennis Center, located in the heart of the University of Minnesota campus, with doubles matches beginning at 9 a.m. sharp.
The country's No. 8 ranked double tandem of Michelle DaCosta and Kara Delicata,University of Michigan, was the team to beat heading into Sunday's double matches. Notre Dame's tough, but inexperienced team of Brooke Buck and Lauren Connelly were up for the challenge. After an exhausting match featuring plenty of momentum changes, DaCosta and Delicata outlasted the Fighting Irish team, 9-7.
One of today's biggest suprises was the aggressive play of Fighting Illini, Brianna Knue and Macall Harkins. Although this is their first year playing together, the two knocked off Iowa's No. 23-ranked team of Megan Racette and Hillary Mintz, 8-4.
Wisconsin's No. 16 nationally ranked team of Lindsay Martin and Katie McGaffin beat a Northwestern's team of Alexis Prousis and Valerie Vladia, 8-4.
The Wildcats recovered quickly with a quarterfinal win for Cristelle Grier and Audra Cohen. Cohen, while only a freshman, is widely considered one of the nations best players right now. The two topped a green DePaul team of Beatrix Csordas and Gergana Ganeva, 8-3.
The Wildcats also have the No. 9-ranked doubles team in Cristelle Grier and Alexis Prousis, but the two did not play together in the tournament.
The Atmosphere intesified as the semifinal round began, a round which included two teams from the ITA top 25 list, DaCosta/Delicata of the University of Michigan and Martin/McGaffigan of the Univeristy of Wisconsin.
The Illinois team of Harkins/Knue wouldn't be intimidated however, upsetting the Badgers, 8-3.
And it was Cohen/Grier over DaCosta/Delicata, 8-2. Singles play started at 1:00 p.m., featuring players from ten schools. Three of those schools, Iowa, Northwestern and Notre Dame, had multiple singles players still competing.
Northwestern junior Cristelle Grier, the tournament's No. 1 singles seed and No.1-ranked singles player in the country, beat talented freshmen, Brook Buck, of Notre Dame, (6-4, 6-1).
In an upset, its Northwestern's Alexis Prousis over Hoosier Dora Vastag, (6-4, 6-2). While Vastag boasted a national ranking of 37, Prousis' game was just on, leaving little opportunity for Vastag to mount a comback after a close first game.
Purdue's Hala Sufi beat Eastern Michigan's Victoria Domina, in a match featuring two nationally top-100 ranked players, (6-4, 6-3).
Hawkeye Hillary Mintz bounced back after a disspointing doubles loss in the quarterfinal round to beat Michelle DeCosta in today's most suprising match. The unranked Mintz kept Michigan's DeCosta on her heels all match long, as she wins over the No. 34-ranked singles player, (6-4, 6-2).
There are no Golden Gophers remaining in the tournament as Jane Anderson, Ida Malmberg and Nischela Reddy lost yesterday in singles action.
The ITA Midwest Championships is an indoor singles and doubles tournament for the top players in the Midwest Region - which consists of every Big Ten Conference team but Penn State, as well as other area schools. It is one of eight regional tournaments taking place across the country this month. The event consists of main draws of 64 in both singles and doubles, with eight spots in singles reserved for winners of a 64-player qualifying bracket. The singles finalists and doubles champions earn automatic entry into the second leg of the collegiate grand slam, the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, slated for Nov. 4-7 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The following are Sunday's Results:
Doubles
Quarterfinals:
DaCosta/Delicata (Mich) def. Buck/Connelly (ND) 9-7
Cohen/Grier (NW) def. Csordas/Ganeva (DePaul) 8-3
Harkins/Knue (Ill) def. Mintz/Racette (Iowa) 8-4
Martin/McGaffigan (WI) def. Prousis/Vladea (NW) 8-4
Semifinals
Harkins/Knue (Ill) def. Martin/McGaffigan (WI) 8-3
Cohen/Grier (NW) def. DaCosta/Delicata (Mich) 8-2
Singles
Audra Cohen (NW) def. Milica Veselinovic (Iowa) (6-4, 6-3)
Hala Sufi (Pur) def. Victoria Domina (E. Mich) (6-4, 6-3)
Alexis Prousis (NW) def. Dora Vastag (Ind) (6-4, 6-2)
Hilary Mintz (Iowa) def. Michelle DeCosta (Mich) (6-4, 6-2)
Katie McGaffigan (WI) def. Zorana Stefanovic (Drake) (6-1, 6-0)
Catrina Thompson (ND) def. Megan Racette (Iowa) (6-4, 6-2)
Cristelle Grier (NW) def. Brook Buck (ND) (6-4, 6-1)
Cynthya Goulet (Ill) def. Elizabeth Exon (Mich) (6-7, 7-6, 6-1)
Doubles finalists will play tomorrow at 9 a.m. Singles quarterfinals will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m., with semifinals slated to start at 1 p.m. The singles final round will be help Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m.
