DePaul University
Wildcat Invitational - Day One
Freshman Shine on Day One of the Wildcat Invitational
10/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S TENNIS
Oct. 8, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. - The DePaul women's tennis team tallied nine wins on day one of the Wildcat Invitational at the Vandy Christie Outdoor Courts on Friday.
DePaul's three freshmen stepped up on the first day and combined for four of DePaul's nine wins including an exciting come-from-behind win for Kelsey Lawson in the B-singles flight.
Lawson and her doubles partner Christiana Raymond just dominated in their first match - dropping the Western Michigan pair of Miloslava Shustova and Nini Sujashvili 8-1. In their second match, the Blue Demons went point-for-point and game-for-game with the Wildcat duo of Natalie Edell and Elizabeth Kobak. With both pairs leaving everything they had on the court, Northwestern edged DePaul 9-8 (4) to move into the Championship of A doubles bracket.
Lawson rounded out her day and ran her singles winning streak to three matches with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Western Michigan's Nivia in the B bracket.
Raymond, who was also playing in the B-singles bracket, took her first set from Michigan State's Katarina Lingl 6-2, but found herself in a 0-3 hole in the second set. Raymond, not wanting to play a third set, battled back and took the set 7-5 for her fourth singles victory of the season.
Back in doubles action, No. 31 Selma Salkovic and Gia McKnight kept their unblemished record with a 8-3 win over the Wisconsin pair of Carolina Berner and Nicky Stracar. The Blue Demon duo would not finish the day unscathed as the Minnesota pair of Alessandra Ferrazzi and Alexa Palen just edged out Salkovic and McKnight 9-8 (3) in the D-doubles flight.
Although the Blue Demon pair of Salkovic and McKnight will not play for the flight's championship on Saturday, McKnight will do her best to help Salkovic into the doubles century club. Salkovic enters Saturday's doubles action with an impressive 99-33 record and looks to become the only DePaul women's tennis player to reach 100 doubles victories.
Salkovic, who just returned for the Riviera/ITA All-American, showed why she is one of the best singles players in the country. The Blue Demon senior found herself down 5-1 in the first set, but battled, made her shots and serves and eventually gritted out a 7-6 (7) set-one victory. With momemtum on her side and Michigan State's Marina Bohrer deflated, Salkovic went on to win the second set 6-3 for her 74th career singles victory.
Cali Gustafson and Katarina Milinkovic teamed-up for a doubles win in the C bracket while they each picked up a singles victory. Gustafson topped Rachel Denny (WMU) 6-3, 6-3 in the C-singles while Milinkovic won her A-singles match.
The Wildcat Invitational continues on Saturday with doubles action in the morning and singles later in the day. The Blue Demons are scheduled to play four doubles and 14 singles matches tomorrow.
Wildcat Invitational
A-Doubles
Raymond/Lawson (DePaul) def. Shustova/Shujashvili (Western Michigan) 8-1
Edell/Kobak (NU) def. Raymond/Lawson 9-8 (4)
Forsyth/Kantor (Minnesota) def. Sharples (UIC)/Kaneta (DePaul) 8-3
Sharples (UIC)/Kaneta (DePaul) def. Everett/Burns (LSU) 8-6
C-Doubles
Pintisova/Wiecha (Minnesota) def. Milinkovic/Gustafson (DePaul) 8-6
Milinkovic/Gustafson def. Moccia/Remynse (Western Michigan) 8-2
D-Doubles
No. 31 McKnight/Salkovic (DePaul) def. Berner/Stracar (Wisconsin) 8-3
Ferrazzi/Palen (Minnesota) def. No. 31 McKnight/Salkovic 9-8 (3)
A-Singles
Nicky Stracar (WIS) def. Samantha Kaneta 6-3, 6-1
B-Singles
Kelsey Lawson def. Maria Nivia (WMU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Christiana Raymond def. Katarina Lingl (MSU) 6-2, 7-5
C-Singles
Cali Gustafson def. Rachel Denny (WMU) 6-3, 6-3
D-Singles
Selma Salkovic def. Marina Bohrer (MSU) 7-6 (7), 6-3
Katarina Milinkovic def. Alessandra Ferrazzi (MN) 6-4, 6-4
Mariya Kovaleva (UIC) def. Gia McKnight 6-4, 6-1
