SAN ANTONIO — Mother Nature interrupted the first tournament of the season for the St. Mary's University Women's Tennis team, altering the schedule of the Lilly Kimbell Memorial Invitational at Rohrbach Tennis Stadium over the weekend. The teams were able to get in two rounds of singles and two rounds of doubles, one of each on Friday and Saturday after rain soaked the courts on Friday afternoon.
Three Rattlers went 2-0 in singles, while the duo of
Allison Blanco (Alajuela, Costa Rica) and
Shiori Takeda (Sydney, Australia) was 2-0 in the Gold Flight to pace the team. Both Blanco and Takeda are transfers playing in their first tournament in the Gold and Blue.
"It's too bad that we had just enough rain to have to eliminate a round in each draw, because everyone was playing quite well," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "I really enjoyed the energy level that our girls displayed because it was a really fun environment and it felt like we were the home team all day."
Senior
Selina Wu (San Gabriel, Calif.) won both of her matches in Flight A, knocking off Paulina Hudson from Texas Wesleyan, 6-2, 6-3 and Katsiaryna Dubik from UTSA by the opposite score, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.
"Selina played some superb all-court tennis that would have made Coach Lilly Kimbell proud," said Macom. "Maddy and Janel played at a high level after dealing with difficult injuries last season. And everyone else was very competitive in singles and doubles throughout the weekend."
Fellow senior
Janel Ospanova (Karaganda, Kazakhstan) defeated Aoka Nagasawa from UTSA 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and got a late break of serve in the first set of the semifinals before winning the second set handily against OLLU's Lena Uzdowska in the semifinals.
Sophomore
Isabella Olsson (Sverige, Sweden) needed a tiebreaker in the first set of the semifinals to take down Sabrina Scanlon from OLLU, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, but cruised in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Mai Tsushima from TWU.
Both Blanco and freshman
Valeria Couoh (Brownsville, Texas) won their opening singles matches in flight D, with Blanco dropping only one game, and the pair were scheduled to meet in the semifinals but chose not to play after practicing together all season.
The Rattlers will hope for better weather Oct. 2-4 when they host the annual Brother Al Invitational at the Rohrbach Tennis Stadium.
SINGLES
Allison Blanco, Flight D (1-0)
Quarterfinals: def. Shelby Standokes, TWU, 6-1, 6-0
Valeria Couoh, Flight D (1-0)
Quarterfinals: def. Jesse Eugenio, OLLU, 6-2, 6-4
Ilona Hernandez Sanchez, Flight B (1-1)
Quarterfinals: def. Adiya Abdugappar, TWU, 4-6, 7-5, [10-7]
Semifinals: lost to Laia Tarazona Peyro, UTSA, 3-6, 1-6
Isabella Olsson, Flight D (2-0)
Quarterfinals: def. Mai Tsushima, TWU, 6-3, 6-1
Semifinals: def. Sabrina Scanlon, OLLU, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
Janel Ospanova, Flight C (2-0)
Quarterfinals: def. Aoka Nagasawa, UTSA, 6-2, 6-4
Semifinals: def. Lena Uzdowska, OLLU, 7-5, 6-1
Breeze Simon, Flight C (1-1)
Quarterfinals: def. Rosmary Pena, TWU, 6-1, 6-2
Semifinals: lost to Akari Tomoyose, UTSA, 6-4, 6-1
Madalyn Smelley, Flight A (1-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Jana Ruzic, UIW, 2-6, 6-3, [7-10]
West Semifinals: def. Zeynep Sila Ege, TWU, 6-2, 6-4
Ana Stojanovska, Flight B (0-2)
Quarterfinals: lost to Giuliana Giardina, UTSA, 4-6, 2-6
West Semifinals: lost to Bohdana Bilokon, OLLU, 6-7 (4-7), 4-6
Selina Wu, Flight A (2-0)
Quarterfinals: def. Paulina Hudson, TWU, 6-2, 6-3
Semifinals: def. Katsiaryna Dubik, UTSA, 6-3, 6-2
DOUBLES
Isabella Olsson and Sarah Wooten, Flight Gold (1-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Akari Tomoyosa and Aoka Nagasawa, UTSA, 3-8
West Semifinals: def. Mai Tsushima and Meghan Connoly, TWU, 8-5
Valeria Couoh and Janel Ospanova, Flight Gold (1-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Shelby Standokes and Rosmary Pena, TWU, 4-8
West Semifinals: def. Jesse Eugenio and Sabrina Scanlon, OLLU, 8-4
Allison Blanco and Shiori Takeda, Flight Gold (2-0)
Quarterfinals: def. Jesse Eugenio and Sabrina Scanlon, OLLU, 8-5
Semifinals: def. Shelby Standokes and Rosmary Pena, TWU, 8-3
Madalyn Smelley and Selina Wu, Flight Blue (1-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Jana Ruzic and Luciana Paez, UIW, 8-5
West Semifinals: def. Adiya Abdugappar and Karen Yibirin Rojas, TWU, 8-1
Ilona Hernandez Sanchez and Breeze Simon, Flight Blue (1-1)
Quarterfinals: def. Katsiaryna Dubik and Gabriela Felix da Silva, UTSA, 8-3
Semifinals: lost to Paulina Hudson and Zeynep Sila Ege, TWU, 7-8 (3-7)
