2010 NJCAA Women's Tennis National Championship
TUCSON, Ariz.—The 2010 Harford women's tennis team has already eclipsed the 2009 squad with four match wins at the Division-I NJCAA National Championship, including two by sophomore Kelsey Strine (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood), who will play in the quarterfinals of the No. 6 singles draw on Tuesday at Reffkin Tennis Center.
The Fighting Owls captured just three matches in 2009 and still have five matches to play on Tuesday, while also fielding a substitution-filled lineup after losing No.1 Ashley Sherinsky and No. 2 Kate Tiburzi from the fall season. Harford is currently in 26th place with four points.
Strine, the No. 7 seed, has seen two tough three-set matches, including her unlucky draw in facing the eighth-best player in the field in the opening Round of 32. She pulled out a 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 win over Abraham Baldwin's Lauren Smith to advance to the Round of 16 on Monday, where she dispatched Mesa's Hayley Roby, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal match on Tuesday against Jade Cunningham, the No. 2 seed from Seminole State. Strine plays at 10:00 a.m. (MT)/1:00 p.m. (ET) for her quarterfinal match.
Sophomores Courtney Brewer (Street, Md./North Harford) and Megan Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston/Towson) both saw their opening round matches go to three sets, but ultimately fell to enter the consolation back draw.
Brewer won her No. 3 singles first round back draw match on Monday by defeating Elgin's Luiza Aleksiekcyk, 8-5, and advanced to the quarterfinals with a second-round bye. She will meet Lake County's Mirka Illasova at 7:30 a.m. (MT)/10:30 a.m. (ET) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Heagy advanced all the way to the No. 4 singles quarterfinals of the with byes in the first and second rounds of the consolation draw and will face Ashley Leverett of Central Alabama on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. (MT)/10:30 a.m. (ET).
In doubles competition, all three Harford teams dropped their opening round matches, but the No. 2 team of sophomore Agnes Burke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) and freshman Julie Vuncannon (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) advanced two rounds in the back draw with byes and will face Pima's Lori Cinnamond and Ana Gallardo in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. (MT)/2:30 p.m. (ET).
The No. 3 team of Strine and Heagy is also alive after winning their opening round match in the consolation draw on Monday, 8-3, over Seward County's Shaley Thomas and Lindy Kowalchuk. Strine and Heagy advanced to the quarterfinals with a second round bye and will meet ASA's Viktoriya Popova and Gisele Diaz on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. (MT)/3:00 p.m. (ET).
The only other matches on Monday saw Vuncannon fall to ASA's Tetiana Kovalska, 8-0 in the No. 1 singles back draw, sophomore Christine Babcock (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright/Stevenson) blanked, 8-0, by Temple's Raven Lewis in the No. 2 singles back draw, freshman Katie Sampayo (Fallston, Md./Fallston) defeated by Dally Senesombath of Elgin, 8-5, and the No. 1 team of Brewer and Sampayo downed by Bia Miranda and Keri Huett of Abraham Baldwin, 8-0.
Full results and match schedules and times can be found by clicking the link above.
