Tennis Hits the Court Over Weekend

UIC Women’s Tennis | Wildcat Invitational

EVANSTON, Ill. – The UIC women's tennis team closed out competition Sunday at the Wildcat Invitational, hosted by Northwestern.  Over the course of the three-day tournament, the Flames produced three singles wins and went 1-1 in doubles.

"There were a lot of positives from the weekend.," head coach Shannon Tully said.  "We tried the new ITA proposed scoring, which made things interesting throughout the entire tournament.  We played some aggressive doubles and are taking big strides there.  We are working hard to execute in our singles matches and got some good wins over strong players from some of the top teams in the country."

UIC was represented by seniors Kathryn Sharples and Jana Knoppe and freshman Veronica Lacerda at the invitational over the weekend while facing off against opponents from DePaul, Illinois, NC State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Princeton.

Knoppe was the lone Flames positioned in the Green Flight, where she went 1-2 against her opponents.  Knoppe fell in her first match against DePaul’s Rebeca Mitrea, 6-4, 6-4, before dropping a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Illinois’ Julia Jamieson in the consolation.  In the final consolation bracket, Knoppe was able to come away with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over NC State’s Natalia Janowicz.

Sharples and Lacerda competed alongside one another in the Blue Flight.  Sharples led off with a close 6-5 (4), 6-5 (1) win over Kentucky’s CeCe Witten, and advanced to take down Wisconsin’s Helen Rabot, 6-5 (3), 6-3, in another straight-set win.

While earning a bye in the first round, Lacerda went head-to-head with Minnesota’s Kendall Heitzner, but fell 6-0, 6-0.  Lacerda then went on in the consolation, where she suffered a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Rabot.

Sharples and Knoppe represented UIC in the Brown Flight for doubles.  The duo earned a first-round bye and went on to face Princeton’s Katie Goepel and Emily Hahn, falling 6-1, before coming back in an extra match to take a 6-4 win over NC State’s Christy Sipes and Taylor Zaytoun.

Originally scheduled to compete at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regionals, the Flames will now head to Rockford, Ill., to take part in the ITA Second Chance Regional, hosted by Northern Illinois, from Friday through Sunday.

Green Bay Women's Tennis | Panther/Warhawk Fall Invitational

WHITEWATER, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – For the Green Bay women’s tennis team, each match this fall has been another step in the right direction. The squad continued to show its improvement at the UW-Whitewater Fall Invite over the weekend, highlighted by freshman Claudia Negron (Lima, Peru) taking the No. 2 singles consolation championship.

“The team has continued to make better decisions and shot selections in matches, and our court experience this fall has helped,” head coach Sara Schubring said. “We still over-hit at times, but continuing to work hard in practice will help diminish this.”

Negron suffered a 6-0, 6-0 defeat in the first round of the No. 2 bracket, but rebounded with a 6-2, 6-0 thumping of Ferris State’s Laurence LeBlanc to advance to the consolation championship game against Milwaukee’s Chelsea Bailey. Leading 4-1, Negron saw her lead slip before Bailey took the first set 6-4. After the match was moved indoors due to weather, Negron served an ace to take the second set 6-4, and later served another ace to take the tiebreaker and win the match 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

At No. 7 singles, freshman Noel Peck (Green Bay, Wis.) won her first match in convincing fashion over Whitewater’s Maddie Benhoff, 6-2, 6-1. Her run was ended in the next round, however, by eventual bracket runner-up Rebecca Beloungea in a 6-1, 6-0 setback.

The Phoenix will return to the court this weekend for the ITA Midwest Championships, held Oct.  11-13. Green Bay will be competing in the Regional 2 tournament, hosted by Northern Illinois at Boylan High School in Rockford, Ill.

Milwaukee Women’s Tennis | Panther/Warhawk Invitational

WHITEWATER, Wis. - Alysa Straub won her singles flight and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee captured 10 singles wins overall on the second and final day of the Panther/Warhawk Invitational.

Straub collected three convincing wins in winning the third singles flight, beating Arantza De La Torre of Northern Illinois, 6-1, 6-1, in the title match.

Christina Colarossi just missed out on the title in her flight, falling in three sets to Nathalie Habegger of NJIT in the finals. Colarossi had captured a pair of straight-sets wins earlier in the day.

Hayley Marshall, Aerielle Pendleton and Kristin Kurer each finished third in their flights after going 2-1 in the event. Kurer's lone loss came in three sets, while Marshall's only defeat came against Nelle Youel of Northern Illinois.

Cleveland State Men’s Tennis | Notre Dame Invitational

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team wrapped up action at the Notre Dame Invitational Sunday, winning three out of its six singles matches.

"We had a great final day, everyone competed really hard and I was pleased with everyone's efforts today," assistant coach Frank Polito said. "Winning three out of our six singles matches against tough competition is a great way to end the tournament and we definitely finished strong. I think we have learned a lot throughout the first three fall tournaments this season, and hopefully we can carry that into the ITA Midwest Regional in a couple weeks."

Ali Shabib finished the weekend with a team-best 3-1 singles record, capping off the weekend with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Andrew Cahn of Western Michigan.

Matt Ford and Jorg van der Vloet each finished the invite with a 2-2 singles mark – Ford picking up a 6-5, 1-6, 1-0 (4) victory over Louisville's Felipe Frias on the final day and van der Vloet marking a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Pablo Mora of Western Michigan.

The Vikings will wrap up their fall schedule at the ITA Midwest Regional in two weeks – with play running from Thursday, October 17 through Monday, October 21.

CSU Results

Singles
Lawson (UND) def. Kuelker (CSU), 6-1, 6-4
Shabib (CSU) def. Cahn (WMU), 6-4, 6-4
Zade (MSU) def. Bellutti (CSU), no score reported
Ford (CSU) def. Frias (UL), 6-5, 1-6, 10-4
van der Vloet (CSU) def. Mora (WMU), 6-3, 6-4
Pecor (UND) def. VanMeter (CSU), 6-2, 6-5