University of Minnesota Athletics
Three Gophers Head to UNI Tournament
9/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Sept. 22, 2011
Three members of the women's tennis team are headed to the UNI Invitational this weekend in Waterloo, Iowa. The event is hosted by the University of Northern Iowa and runs from Sept. 23-25. Participants from Bradley, Drake, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Green Bay, UW-Milwaukee and Iowa State will join the Gophers and host UNI in the tournament.
Sophomores Pauline Gilbert, Elianna Kantar and Emilie Renault will represent Minnesota in the tournament, which is divided into four singles flights (platinum, gold, silver and bronze) and two doubles flights. The Gophers will only be competing in singles this week.
Gilbert, who made her Maroon and Gold debut last weekend at the Gopher Invitational, and Renault will be competing in the gold flight. Kantar will play in the silver flight.
Gilbert, who went 2-1 in singles last weekend, will face Iowa State's Caroline Anderson in the first round. Gilbert defeated Anderson's teammate Nikki Reber 6-1, 6-1 in her final match at Minnesota's home event last weekend.
Renault was 4-7 in fall tournaments last year and makes her season debut against Callie Ronkowski of North Dakota this week. Renault defeated North Dakota's Stephanie Petsis 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9) last year at the Drake Fall Invitational and went 1-1 in singles at the UNI Invitational.
Renault and Gilbert can only play one another if they both advance to the championship match.
Kantar is slated to face South Dakota's Veronika Makashov in the first round of the bronze flight on Friday. Kantar was 5-9 in fall events last season, but was 3-1 at the UNI Invitational.
This is the second of six fall tournaments that Minnesota will compete in this year. They hosted the nine-team Gopher Invitational last weekend and will next play in the Wildcat Invitational on Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in Evanston, Ill.
