After a difficult showing at the William and Mary Invitational two weeks ago, the women's tennis team experienced much more success at this weekend's Brown Invitational. The team faced strong opponents from Rutgers University, Dart-mouth and Boston University, but in nearly every confrontation, the Bears came out on top. Bruno dominated the competition in singles play from the outset and had impressive results in doubles as well after an early bump in the road.
Opening with singles play against Rutgers, Brown won an impressive four of five matches. Playing first singles, Daisy Ames '07 triumphed over Katrina Elder-Bush 6-2, 7-5. At third singles, Kara Zeder '07 soundly defeated Jill Markowitz 6-0, 6-0. Alexa Baggio '09 gained another victory for the Bears at fourth singles, winning a 6-1, 6-4 match against Alina Balasa, and at fifth singles, Brett Finkelstein '09 continued the winning trend by defeating Anela Dujsic 6-4, 6-0.
The Bears were less successful in their doubles matches against the Scarlet Knights, winning only at first doubles as Kelley Kirkpatrick '08 and Ashley Pariser '08 posted an 8-3 victory over Elder-Bush and Ketevan Shmakova.
But the Bears quickly bounced back by completely dominating Dartmouth. At second singles, Ames defeated Danielle Murray 6-1, 6-2, while Michelle Pautler '07 wrapped up a third singles victory over Jennifer Murray by a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Pariser followed suit at fourth singles, soundly defeating Jamie Caplan 6-2, 6-1. At fifth singles, Zeder proved her skills by overpowering Ann Scott 6-1, 6-0. At sixth singles, Sara Mansur '09 defeated Katie Jaxheimer 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (2), and at seventh singles, Baggio defeated Catja Carrell 6-1, 6-4.
In doubles play, the Bears were just as strong against the Big Green. Pariser and Kirkpatrick won their first doubles match against Jaxheimer and Megan Zebroski 8-5. At second doubles, Mansur and Amanda Saiontz '07 defeated Scott and Danielle Murray 8-7 (5). To complete the doubles sweep, Zeder and Pautler defeated Caplan and Jennifer Murray 8-4 at third doubles.
The team faced Boston University in its last match-up of the tournament and eagerly added three more singles victories to their record. Pautler defeated Monica Shepherd 6-3, 6-0, Mansur won a close match 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 against Aimee Charest, and Baggio triumphed over Gabrielle Hernandez 6-1, 6-4.
The Bears had just as much success in their doubles matches against the Terriers. Woodhouse and Baggio defeated Hernandez and Charest 8-4, while Saiontz and Mansur defeated Hernandez and Lauren Stiekema 8-5.
Although the Bears are proud of their strong showing, they are always eager to improve.
"We could use a little work on doubles and endurance," Finkelstein said.
The team's efforts will hopefully pay off at their next tournament, the USTA Tennis Center Invitational, which will take place Oct. 8-10 in Flushing, N.Y., site of the U.S. Open.
