Fredericksburg, Va.–The Sweet Briar College tennis team traveled to tournament host University of Mary Washington (UMW) for individual tournament play in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Championships. Tournament participants include Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) schools of number one ranked Washington and Lee University, fourth-ranked Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and sixth-ranked Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to name a few. Host school UMW is ranked third in the ITA region. The atmosphere facilitates a high-quality team atmosphere and demands intense tennis competition by all participating schools.
The tournament normally utilizes three separate sites for three separate draws. The Championship, Blue, and Gray flights with singles and doubles play in that order, as well as consolation rounds for both singles and doubles.
Rain forced play to begin indoors and was forecast to extend well into Saturday evening. with a modification in scoring. If sets are split, the third set is to be determined with a match tie-break, first to score 10 points, winning by two. The tournament committee started the tournament promptly at 8:00 a.m. with Championship Doubles and singles as scheduled, followed by play within the Blue flight, then followed by the Gray flight. Fortunately, the clouds gave way to sun and by noon players were headed to their respective sites to complete Saturday’s rounds.
Indoors, first doubles team for Sweet Briar College is veteran player Virginia Edahl (‘10/Charlotte, N.C.) and first-year player Krista Maldonado from Ennis, Texas. They faced a tough doubles team of Laura Chen and Amanda Wu from Carnegie Mellon University and lost their 8-game pro-set 2-8. They are scheduled for consolation round play on Sunday.
Singles play followed with Maldonado playing against Averett College player Johanna Heikkinen. Averett won 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the 2nd round of the main draw, while Maldonado will enter into the back draw of the Championship flight. Opponents and time to be determined.
Edahl’s singles play had her facing Mallory Willenborg from Johns Hopkins University. Edahl’s shot variety fell short to Willenborg’s consistent topspin shots. JHU won in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.
Blue flight doubles were as follows: Stephanie Nance (‘09/Moneta, Va.)-Caroline Blew (‘12/Weston, Mass.) lost to the powerhouse team of Jocelyn Lewis -Catherine Malcolm of UMW, 0-8. Sweet Briar’s Leslie Polaski (‘10/Amherst, Va.)-Ebie Baker (‘11/Farmville, Va.) played Blair Brzeski -Laura Pattillo of the dominant team of Washington & Lee, with UWL winning 8-0. Both Sweet Briar teams will enter into the consolation bracket for doubles in the Blue draw, slated for play on Sunday.
Blue flight singles matches were Leslie Polaski vs. Courtney Boger from John Hopkins University, with the win going to JHU 6-2, 6-0. Ebie Baker faced Bridgewater College player Marieke Johnson and lost by scores of 6-1, 6-1. Stephanie Nance played Kelly O’Connell of Bridgewater College. Nance lost 6-2, 6-1. All three Sweet Briar players will enter into the Blue consolations singles bracket with play to be determined and dependent on the court availability.
At Kenmore Park (offsite) the Gray flight got under way at approximately 12:30 p.m. and started with singles play by Caroline Blew vs. Meaghan Ryan from Haverford College. Despite a suspension of play due to lightning and rain late in the second set, Blew could not swing momentum her way and lost by a score of 6-0, 6-3. Meredith Tournament flight “C” winner first-year player Ellen Reid (‘12/Germanton, N.C.) faced Candice Sullivan of Shenandoah University and won in a match tie-breaker. Reid came back from one set down and won with score of 4-6, 6-4, and 10-6 in the tie break. Alex Williams (‘12/Buena Vista, Va.) also played singles and was matched against Priscilla Roney of Bryn Mawr College. Williams lost with scores of 6-0, 6-1. Reid & Williams are scheduled to play their first round of doubles on Sunday.
Play will resume on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 8:00 a.m. starting with Champ and Blue main draw doubles at the indoor site of the University of Mary Washington.
