Rutgers Women's Tennis Opens Season at Army Invitational
Sep 17 | Women's Tennis
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Rutgers University women's tennis team kicked off its 2007 fall schedule with some impressive results at the Army Invitational this past weekend.
The tournament consisted of 31 teams, including seven from the BIG EAST. The Scarlet Knights competed in three of the five singles flights and in both doubles flights. Both doubles pairings reached the finals and all three singles players made it to at least the quarterfinals.
"Overall we had one of the stronger team showings in the tournament and it was a great first step for our team in our continued progress," said head coach Ben Bucca.
At first doubles, the top-seeded duo of Anela Dujsic (Mississauga, Ontario) and Polina Zaretser (Brooklyn, N.Y.) picked up three wins before falling to second-seeded Masha Pozar and Cantynce Boney of Massachusetts. In one of the closest matches of the tournament, RU fell, 12-10 in the pro-set tiebreaker. At second doubles, Katherine Arlak (Leonia, N.J.) and Christine Tran (Centerville, Va.) lost to the top-seeded team from Bucknell, 8-4 in the championship match after cruising through their first three matches.
"We played very strong doubles this weekend, continuing a tradition of very strong doubles play for our program," said Bucca. "We've established a strong foundation at doubles and hope that we can continue it."
At second singles, freshman Amy Zhang (Plano, Texas) picked up three victories in her first three matches before falling to eventual champion Andrea Novaceanu of Buffalo, 6-3, 7-5.
"Amy had a very strong showing for her first ever tournament as a college player," said Bucca. "She had three strong wins and put up a great fight against one of the top 20 players in the east."
In other singles action, Katrina Elder-Bush (Boston, Mass.) defeated Johanna Bezjan of Duquesne 6-3, 7-5 at first singles to advance to the quarterfinals where she fell to Pascaline Cette of UMBC. At third singles, Caitlin Baker (Altoona, Pa.) topped Anna Delgado of St. Bonaventure and Joy Johnson of Loyola before falling in the quarterfinals as well.
The Scarlet Knights will next be in action Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Brown Invitational in Providence R.I.
