Nov. 6, 2004
Junior Brianna Knue and freshman Macall Harkins picked up where they left off in the Midwest Regional two weeks ago, winning, 8-6, over Rice's Kimberly Patenaude and Tracie Chong in Friday's opening round of the Midwest Blast Tournament at the UI Atkins Tennis Center. They were not alone in their doubles success as the Illini women captured all three of their three doubles contests.
Harkins also won her singles match against South Alabama's Maria Zivcicova, 6-4, 7-3.
The first-year player's convincing victories pleased Head Coach Sujay Lama, who is looking to set his lineups before the spring season begins.
"I felt really good about everybody. All of our players fought hard. Macall and Cynthya (Goulet) played very aggressive matches. Especially as a freshman at the No. 2, I thought (Harkins) was outstanding," Lama said.
The 110th-ranked Goulet won her match with relative ease, 7-5, 6-3, over South Alabama's Andrea Kurekova. The rest of Goulet's teammates were not so fortunate.
Emily Wang, victorious as Goulet's doubles partner, suffered a 6-2, 6-0 defeat at the hands of South Alabama's Ana Rupic. USA's Dijana Stanic handed Knue a 6-2, 6-4 setback. Illini freshman Anastasia Sokolova fell, 6-3, 6-3 to the Jaguars' Dominika Nemcovicova.
Lama views today's matches as a start and as a learning experience for a young team playing its first matches at home.
"There's a lot to build on. It's only going to get better," Lama said. "There were some nerves (Friday.) A lot of the times in singles we got in a hole early and we'd claw our way back. I want to see where we're ready to go (right away)."
The tournament continues Saturday and concludes Sunday. Here is the remaining schedule for the weekend:
Saturday, November 6
10 a.m. Doubles matches: Illinois vs. South Alabama and Rice vs. South Florida
Noon Singles matches: South Alabama vs. Rice
4 p.m. Singles matches: Illinois vs. South Florida
Sunday, November 7 8:30 a.m. - Doubles matches: Illinois vs. South Florida and Rice vs. South Alabama 10 a.m. - Singles matches: South Florida vs. South Alabama Noon - Singles matches: Illinois vs. Rice
FRIDAY'S MIDWEST BLAST RESULTS:
9 a.m. - Doubles: South Florida vs. South Alabama Klara Jarova/Andrea Kurekova (USA) def. Patricia Kolendo (USF)/Leila Cehajic (ILL) (exhibition match) 8-6 Gabriela Duch/Luisa Obando (USF) def. Katarina Palenikova/Maria Zivcicova (USA) 8-5 Fabiana Taverna/Liz Cruz (USF) def. Dijana Stanic/Dominka Nemcovicova (USA) 8-3
10:30 a.m. - Singles: Rice vs. South Florida #58 Blair DiSesa (Rice) def. #97 Gabriela Duch (USF) 6-2, 7-5 Tracie Chong (Rice) def. Liz Cruz (USF) 6-3, 6-4 Kimberly Patenaude (Rice) def. Pavlina Akritas (ILL) 6-2, 6-4 Fabiana Taverna (USF) def. Christine Dao (Rice) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 Luisa Obando (USF) def. Dominique Karas (Rice) 6-3, 6-3 Patricia Kolendo (USF) def. Amy Cao (Rice) 6-1, 7-5
3 p.m. - Doubles: Illinois vs. Rice #44 Cynthya Goulet/Emily Wang (ILL) def. Blair DiSesa/Dominique Karas (Rice) 8-2 Macall Harkins/Brianna Knue (ILL) def. Kimberly Patenaude/Tracie Chong (Rice) 8-6 Momei Qu/Leila Cehajic (ILL) def. Amy Cao/Christine Dao (Rice) 8-5
6 p.m. - Singles: Illinois vs. South Alabama #110 Cynthya Goulet (ILL) def. Andrea Kurekova (USA) 7-5, 6-3 Macall Harkins (ILL) def. Maria Zivcicova (USA) 6-4, 7-3 Katarina Palenikova (USA) def. Momei Qu (ILL) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 Ana Rupic (USA) def. Emily Wang (ILL) 6-2, 6-0 Dijana Stanic (USA) def. Brianna Knue (ILL) 6-2, 6-4 Dominika Nemcovicova (USA) def. Anastasia Sokolova (ILL) 6-3, 6-3
