Oct. 24, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior Megan Broderick won both her matches Saturday to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women’s Ohio Valley Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio. Broderick is the tournament’s No. 5 seed.
The Tampa, Fla., native didn’t allow more than three opponent games per set. In her first match of the day Broderick defeated host school Cincinnati’s Ksenia Slyncko, 6-2, 6-3. The Wildcat earned another convincing win in the afternoon over Indiana’s Evgeniya Verteshva, 6-1, 6-3. Broderick is set to play the No. 1 seed, Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee Sunday morning at 10 a.m. ET.
Broderick’s teammates, sophomore’s Minnette Pienaar and Caroline Lilley also played in singles during Saturday’s matches. Pienaar played a difficult match against Vanderbilt’s Hannah Blatt. The Wildcat fought hard before falling to the Commodore, 7-5, 6-4. Lilley also played a close match against a member of the Dores, Keilly Ulery. After an extended first set, Ulery, the No. 15 seed, came out on top, 7-6(3), 6-1.
Lilley had paired with Broderick in doubles as the No. 2 seed but suffered a heartbreaking 9-8(7) defeat at the hands of the No. 7 seeded Maria Sorbello and Kata Szekely of UT.
The 2009 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the nation’s premier collegiate indoor tennis tournament, is the second of three national championship events for college tennis this season. The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including: qualifiers from these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships held across the country, the ITA National Small College champions, and top performers from the ITA All-American Championships and at-large wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 7,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the ITA Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit presented by the USTA, and the Campbell/ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership, and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.
The four-day tournament is hosted by the Western Tennis and Fitness Club in Western Hills. The singles finalists and doubles champion from this event will earn spots in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, which run from Nov. 5-8, hosted by Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Admission is free and play will begin each day at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Singles finals are set to begin on Monday morning.
To get the most up-to-date information on your Kentucky Wildcat women’s tennis team visit www.ukathletics.com.
