Full Saint Joseph's Invite Results
MERION STATION, Pa. – The Norfolk State women's tennis team opened up its 2015 fall season this weekend at the Saint Joseph's Invitational, where senior
Andrea Macchiavello won the singles Flight 3 to cap NSU's tournament play at the SJU Tennis Complex.
She defeated Bucknell's Stephanie Pino by a 6-1, 6-3 score on Saturday, and then on Sunday downed Denny LaMachia of Delaware, 6-1, 6-3, to advance to the championship match. There, she fell behind against Allison Hansen after dropping the first set, 6-4. Macchiavello was able to rebound to win the second set, 6-3, and the third-set tiebreaker, 10-5.
The Spartans nearly had a second winner as well, as junior
Liza Gordeeva lost in the championship match of the singles Flight 2. She won twice on Saturday, including a 7-6(0), 6-2 victory over Emily Hughes of Loyola and a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Arianne Polatnick of Saint Joseph's.
On Sunday, Gordeeva topped Amanda Studnicki of Delaware, 6-4, 7-5, and took the first set over Maureen Devlin of Saint Joseph's in the final, 6-2. Devlin, though, responded to earn wins in the second set, 6-4, and the third-set tiebreaker, 10-6, for the bracket title.
"The ladies started the fall season well, and I was pleased they maintained their momentum from last spring," said head coach
Worth Richardson. "I was very impressed with our singles play, as the few losses were very close matches and could have gone either way."
In other singles action, sophomore
Dajana Cvjetkovic topped Loyola's Megan Hahn by a 6-4, 6-0 score in the singles Flight 1. Cvjetkovic also won the first set over Lisa Jouravieva of Bucknell, 7-5, in the semifinals on Sunday before Jouravieva won a close second set, 7-6(3), and a tight third-set tiebreaker, 11-9.
Freshman
Marta Gomar made her first appearance as a Spartan, winning twice on Saturday in the singles Flight 3. She defeated Saint Joseph's Sarah Contrata, 6-4, 6-1, and Delaware's Sara Komer, 7-5, 6-1. Gomar had the edge early on in the semifinal matchup with GW's Hansen, winning the first set, 6-4. Hansen, though, topped Gomar in the second set, 6-3, and the third-set tiebreaker, 10-5, to advance to the championship match against Macchiavello.
Also in the flight 4 bracket, junior
Ana Popovic fell to Delaware's Draga Sabotic, 6-0, 6-2, and to Bucknell's Allie Lane, 7-6(5), 6-3.
In doubles play on Friday, Macchiavello and Gomar teamed up to advance to the semifinals in the Flight 1 bracket. They topped Bucknell's Jouravieva and Pino, 8-6, before succumbing to Delaware's Komer and Arielle Shuren, 8-3.
Cvjetkovic and Gordeeva also competed in the Flight 1 bracket, where they dropped their opening match, 9-7, to Bucknell's Maria Cioffi and Melissa Parks. The NSU duo was able to bounce back to take down the Saint Joseph's tandem of Claire Minnoe and Alex Zachem, 8-5, in the consolation before falling to Loyola's Hahn and Amanda Lanciano, 8-6.
Popovic also teamed up with George Washington's Egle Jakuciunaite in the Flight 2 bracket. The tandem lost to Julie Clark and Nicole Eberle of Loyola, 8-6, but did defeat La Salle's Jayla Smith and Amanda Wieler by an 8-2 score in the consolation. The Bucknell duo of Lauren Fishbein and Danielle Gannon then won in a walkover over Popovic and Jakuciunaite.
"We will recover and prepare for our tournament next weekend, and we are looking to show improvement in areas where we struggled this weekend," stated Richardson.
Norfolk State will compete at the CNU Invitational this Saturday and Sunday.
