VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Junior
Dajana Cvjetkovic advanced to the final of the Virginia Beach Clay Court Championships at the Cape Henry Racquet Club this weekend, as the Norfolk State women's tennis team closed the fall 2016 portion of its schedule.
"Dajana was very impressive reaching the finals of the women's draw. She is developing into one of the top players in the MEAC," Norfolk State head coach
Darryl Cummings said.
Cvjetkovic fell in the final on Sunday to the top-ranked player in the women's draw, Naomi Waters, by a score of 6-1, 5-7, 10-8.
On Saturdary, Cvjetkovic lost one game in her first two matches as she defeated Hampton's Mikaela Pierce, 6-1, 6-0, and Anastasiia Romanova, 6-0, 6-0. Then on Sunday, Cvjetkovic was extended to three sets against Amanda Nava before prevailing 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 in the semifinals.
Also on Saturday in singles action, Norfolk State went 0-3 against Hampton.
Senior
Liza Gordeeva fell in a thrilling first-round matchup, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7, to Mariam Mitaishvili of Hampton. Junior
Ana Popovic dropped her match to Cherise Slocombe, 6-2, 6-1, while freshman
Paula Fortuno fell 6-1, 6-1 in her first collegiate match to Kristina Titova. However, Fortuno bounced back by defeating Jasmine Lamy in her consolation matchup, 6-3, 7-6.
In doubles action on Friday, Norfolk State was defeated by Hampton in all three matches. Cvjetkovic and Gordeeva dropped their match to Mitaishvili and Slocombe by a score of 6-2. Popovic and Fortuno fell to Haley Mullins and Pierce as well as Romanova and Titova by scores of 6-2.
Norfolk State and Hampton split their four mixed doubles on Friday.
Gordeeva teamed up with NSU men's player Vini Da Silva to defeat Hampton teammates Slocombe and Charles Hudson, 6-3. Cvejetkovic and Flavian Fernandez also earned a 6-4 victory over Mitaishvili and Fedor Shirin. Fourtuna and Dan Dumitrascu fell to Titova and Juan Araoz, 6-2, while Popovic and Andres Alcaraz lost to Pierce and Joshua McQueen, 7-6.
"I thought our players represented Norfolk State very well this weekend. They gave great effort and played with a lot of enthusiasm," Cummings said.
The Virginia Beach Clay Court Championships featured players from Hampton, Norfolk State, Virginia Commonwealth along with former and future college players. Over a dozen different countries were represented.
