The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Lady Blazers Open Play In Ole Miss Fall Tennis Classic
9/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 19, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. ----- The UAB women's tennis team experienced an up and down day in the opening round of the Ole Miss Fall Tennis Classic, played here on Friday afternoon. The Lady Blazers finished the single matches with a team record of 2-4, two of the losses coming to the top two seeds in the tournament, while both doubles teams dropped hard-fought battles.
Nischa Maier-Knapp, playing in the red draw, turned in the most solid performance of the day, defeating Cecelia Poveda from Arkansas Little Rock, 6-3, 6-1. With the victory, Maier-Knapp will advance to play second-seeded Karem Harboe of Ole Miss in the quarterfinals.
The lone other Lady Blazer victory came out of the blue group, as Marrit Jansma defeated Arkansas State's Nadia Dellarciprete, 6-2, 6-4. Jansma will continue play when she faces No. 4-seeded Ana Rupic of South Alabama. Rupic defeated Diana Espinal (Louisiana-Monroe) 7-5, 6-4.
In the white group, UAB had some bad luck as Annamieke Elsholz and Julia von Samson drew the top two seeds, respectively. Elsholz dropped a 6-2, 6-3 decision to the top seed, Andrea Kurekova of South Alabama. Von Samson put up a strong fight in her match against No. 2-seeded Audra Adams of Ole Miss; however, she would succumb, 6-3, 7-5.
Other singles action included Femke de Boer losing her match to Katarina Palenikova, 6-3, 6-3, in the red draw. Nadia Dellarciprete also dropped a 6-2, 6-4 decision to Southern Miss' Nikhla Narra in the blue draw.
In double action, the Lady Blazers fell in both matches. In the red draw, Katie Prokop and Rosario Negrete of Arkansas Little Rock downed Dellarciprete/Elsholz, 8-6, in a hard-fought match. In the blue draw, it was Maier-Knapp/von Samson dropping an 8-5 decision to Margo Carter and Malisa Consado of Tennessee Tech.
Maierr-Knapp and Harboe will face each other on Saturday, while Jansma will also square-off against Rupic.
