Oct. 19, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s tennis team wrapped up Friday’s action at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional, with junior Caitlin McGraw and senior Jessica Stiles taking two doubles matches and each an individual match Friday in West Lafayette, Ind.
“Our team understands the importance of daily focus and how this daily focus will yield positive outcomes,” UK head coach Carlos Drada said. “All of the players competing today did a great job with their emotional control and for this reason, four of our six players in the main draw advanced to the second round.”
McGraw and Stiles started the morning off with a decisive 8-1 win over Valentina Schneider and Alex Tachovsky of Louisville. The duo continued on, knocking off Gisella Pere and Imogen Golder of Purdue 8-4 to advance to the quarterfinals and face Ashleigh Antal and Marie Casares of Vanderbilt Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
Coming off two doubles wins earlier in the day, McGraw knocked off Yuiri Nomoto of Middle Tennessee State 6-3, 6-1. McGraw will advance to play in the singles round of 32 on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. McGraw’s doubles partner, Stiles, added another win for the Wildcats, defeating Anna Gerbassi of ETSU 6-0, 6-4. Stiles will face Krisztina Kapitany of Purdue Saturday at noon.
After winning two matches Thursday to get into the main draw, freshmen Kirsten Lewis and Nadia Ravita took their third consecutive match with an 8-2 win over Melissa Gerritsen and Kristina Labeja of Purdue. Lewis and Ravita fell in the round of 16 to Alyssa Hibberd and Tiffany Welcher of Memphis to end their weekend in doubles play with a 3-1 record.
Lewis transitioned into singles play with a win over Bobbi Modesto of IUPUI, 6-3, 6-0, advancing to face Lynda Xepoleas Saturday in the round of 32 at 4:15 p.m. Ravita also won her first round of singles play, defeating Kaylene Chadwell of Chattanooga 6-1, 6-1. Ravita continues on to face Purdue’s Golder at 11 a.m.
Junior Khristina Blajkevitch and sophomore Stephanie Fox fell 8-5 in a closely contested match against Frances Altick and Georgina Sellyn of Vanderbilt. The tandem went on to knock off Kayla Jones and Claire Mulyadi of Chattanooga 8-5 in the first round of the consolation bracket and will pick back up Saturday morning vs. Kelly Gray and Stefanie Mikesz of Memphis at 8 a.m.
Fox fell to Mara Schmidt of Purdue to open the singles draw, losing an 8-6 tie breaker in the first set, before falling 7-6(6), 6-2. Fox will play Saturday at noon in the consolation bracket. Blajkevitch fell (6-4, 7-6(5)) in a tight match against Alyssa Hibberd of Memphis, losing the final set in a tiebreaker. Blajkevitch will go up against Stefanie Villajuan of Louisville in the consolation bracket at noon.
“Stephanie and Khristina both lost their singles in highly contested matches,” Drada said. “However, they have all the tools necessary to learn and grow from today.”
Follow results of the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional throughout Saturday on Twitter with the hashtag “#USTAITARegionals”.
USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional
West Lafayette, Ind.
Oct. 18-21, 2012
Thursday Qualifying Doubles Competition:
Ravita/Lewis (UK) def. Adami/Hedrick (Butler) 8-3
Ravita/Lewis (UK) def. Pickrel/Rodriguez (Ball State) 8-1
Friday Doubles Competition:
Altick/Sellyn (VU) def. Blajkevitch/Fox (UK) 8-5
Blajkevitch/Fox (UK) def. Jones/Mulyadi (Chattanooga) 8-5
McGraw/Stiles (UK) def. Schneider/Tachovsky 8-1
McGraw/Stiles (UK) def. Golder/Pere (Purdue) 8-4
Ravita/Lewis (UK) def. Gerritsen/Labeja (EKU) 8-2
Hibberd/Welcher (Memphis) def. Ravita/Lewis (UK) 8-1
Saturday Doubles Competition:
McGraw/Stiles (UK) vs. Antal/Casares (VU) 9 a.m.
Blajkevitch/Fox (UK) vs. Gray/Mikesz (Memphis) 8 a.m.
Thursday Singles Competition:
Edmée Morin-Kougoucheff (UK) def. Maggie Leavell (VU) 6-3, 6-1
Leavell (VU) def. Edmée Morin-Kougoucheff (UK) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Friday Singles Competition:
Kirsten Lewis (UK) def. Bobbi Modesto (IUPUI) 6-3, 6-0
Caitlin McGraw (UK) def. Yuiri Nomoto (MTSU) 6-3, 6-1
Mara Schmidt (Purdue) def. Stephanie Fox (UK) 7-6(6), 6-2
Alyssa Hibberd (Memphis) def. Khristina Blajkevitch 6-4, 7-6(5)
Jessica Stiles (UK) def. Anna Gerbassi (ETSU) 6-0, 6-4
Nadia Ravita (UK) def. Kaylene Chadwell (UTC) 6-1, 6-1
Saturday Singles Competition:
Kirsten Lewis (UK) vs. Lynda Xepoleas (Purdue) 4:15 p.m.
Caitlin McGraw (UK) vs. Gisella Pere (Purdue) 10:30 a.m.
Stephanie Fox (UK) vs. Amandine Faouzi (EKU) 12 p.m.
Nadia Ravita (UK) vs. Imogen Golder (Purdue) 11 a.m.
Jessica Stiles (UK) vs. Krisztina Kapitany (Purdue) 12 p.m.
Khristina Blajkevitch (UK) vs. Stefanie Villajuan (UL) 12 p.m.
