Sept. 22, 2006
Las Cruces, N.M. – The New Mexico women’s tennis team showed intense promise for its fall season as they advanced seven of eight singles and three of four doubles players to the semifinal round of the New Mexico State Invitational, today. This is the team’s first official tournament of the 2006 fall season. The tournament includes a total of six teams; Oklahoma State, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona University, Lee College, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and the Lobos.
“I’m proud of the team,” head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said. “They played very well today. Weather conditions were bad but we overcame the wind and played extremely well.”
The Lobos were represented in a total of eight singles flights and were victorious in all but one. In an intense, drawn out match that lasted nearly four hours Mackenzie White defeated Teri Wilkerson from rival school NMSU (7-6,6-7,6-3). Not all of the matches were such hard fights, four of the seven matches won were done so in two sets. Iva Gersic defeated Carmen Abalxieru from Texas A&M Corpus Christi 7-5, 6-4 in the A singles flight while Ola Abou-Zekry took her match from UTEP’s Katherine Palider 6-2, 7-5. Lucy Scott had an easy win against Elisa Reeder from Lee College (6-3, 6-2) in the C Singles and Jenn Ryba dominated her opponent, Alexandra Zyckman from TAMCC 6-4, 6-4.
The doubles were just as successful in their matches winning five of the six played and advancing three of the teams to the semifinals. Gersic and Scott paired up in the A doubles flight for a fast win against UTEP’s Weronika Bloezynska and Palider, 8-1. In the B doubles flight Elisa Bonner and White defeated Stephanie Randall and Regan Newman from NAU 8-4 and Ryba and freshman Sandra Zmak had a win over Stacey Pinchbeck and Gergie Mills 8-0 also from NAU.
Tomorrow, the Lobos will be playing in the semifinal rounds of both the singles and doubles flights. The final matches will be held on Sunday Sept. 24.
Singles
Quarterfinal Round
Iva Gersic (UNM) def. Carmen Abealxieru (TAMCC) 7-5,6-4
Nora Quintal (UNM) def. Erika Iriate (TAMCC) 6-4,4-6,6-0
Ola Abou-Zekry (UNM) def. Katherine Palider (UTEP) 6-2,7-5
Lucy Scott (UNM) def. Elisa Reeder (Lee) 6-3,6-2
Mackenzie White (UNM) def. Teri Wilkerson (NMSU) 7-6,6-7,6-3
Jennifer Ryba (UNM) def. Alexandra Zyckman (TAMCC) 6-4,6-4
Jessica Collins (OSU) def. Sandra Zmak (UNM) 6-4,3-6,6-1
Elisa Bonner (UNM) def. Lana Burton (TAMCC) 2-6,6-2,6-0
Doubles
Round of 16
Abou-Zekry/Quintal (UNM) def. Porter/Vial (NAU) 9-7
Bonner/White (UNM) def. Poskitt/Tkachenko (OSU) 8-6
Ryba/Zmak (UNM) def. Burton/Fenn wd.
Quarterfinal
Gersic/Scott (UNM) def. Weronika/Palider (UTEP) 8-1
Sintell/Juricek (NMSU) def. Abou-Zekry/Quintal (UNM) 8-4
Bonner/White (UNM) def. Randall/Newman (NAU) 8-4
Ryba/Zmak (UNM) def. Pinchbeck/Mills (NAU) 8-0