WOMEN WIN REGIONAL DOUBLES

[centexstang]

PAVI FRANCIS & MARTA LESNIAK won the ITA Regional Tennis Tournament today to advance to the ITA National Indoor Tournament in Nov. in Connecticut. The Mustangs defeated A&M in the finals. Great play in high wind monday and tuesday.

[ER9TC4]

Marta Lesniak and Pavi Francis won the doubles championship at the ITA Regional in Waco on Tuesday to cap an outstanding tournament for the Mustangs. Lesniak and Francis automatically qualify for the ITA National Indoor Championships beginning Nov. 6 in New Haven, Conn. Also in doubles, Nicole Briceno and Shahazoda Hatamova advanced to the championship match of the consolation. In singles, Lesniak advanced to the quarterfinal round of the main draw and Hatamova made it to the championship match of the consolation bracket. Lesniak is eligible for an at-large bid to the National Indoor Championships due to making the quarterfinal round of the regional and combined with her national ranking.

"I put them Marta and Pavi together 10 days ago to get ready for this regional," says head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. "It is a testament to how strong they are individually in a doubles setting that they were able to combine for this win. I am very proud and excited for them."

The duo of Lesniak and Francis was the No. 3 seed in the draw and defeated ninth-seeded Morgan Frank and Lauren Santocroce of Texas A&M 8-4 in the final. It was the third consecutive win over a pair that was seeded in the ITA Regional. The Mustang tandem's closest match was a 9-8 tiebreaker win over Megan Alexander and Maria Babanova of TCU in the quarterfinal.

Lesniak's singles bracket included a three-set win over No. 88 Frank of Texas A&M in the third round before falling 6-3,7-6 to No. 92 Nina Secerbegovic of Baylor in the quarterfinal. Hatamova fell in three sets to No. 48 Csilla Borsanyi of Baylor in the first round before a four-match win streak got her into the consolation final. There, Hatamova fell to No. 9 seed Nazari Urbina of Texas A&M 6-3, 6-4.

Briceno and Hatamova followed the same format as Hatamova's singles run. The duo fell 8-5 in the opening round to Janelle Cuthbertson and Ashley Turpin of Texas A&M. The duo then advanced four straight times with a combined 24-8 set advantage before an 8-4 consolation final defeat against Carlene Leyden and Abby Liu of Texas.
The next tournament is the ITA Indoor National Championships beginning Nov. 6.


ITA Regional Singles Main Draw
1st (64) - No. 39, #2 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. Natalie Leitch (Texas Tech) 6-1; 6-0
2nd (32) - No. 39, #2 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. Varsha Shiva Shanhar (Rice) 7-5, 6-2
3rd (16) - No. 39, #2 Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. No. 88, #9 Morgan Frank (Texas A&M) 0-6; 6-2; 6-2
QF - No. 92, #8 Nina Secerbegovic (Baylor) def. No. 39, #2 Marta Lesniak (SMU) 6-3; 7-6(8)

1st (64) - Sophie Quist (SMU) def. Carla Lindlar (Baylor) 7-5; 7-6(4)
2nd (32) - #9 Rebekka Hanle (Rice) def. Sophie Quist (SMU) 6-0, 6-1
c - Elizabeth Ullathorne (Texas Tech) def. Sophie Quist (SMU) def. 6-0; 6-2
c - Sophie Quist (SMU) def. Andrea Giraldo (Texas State) 6-0; 6-0

1st (64) - Pavi Francis (SMU) def. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) 6-1; 6-2
2nd (32) - Amanda Craddock (Texas) def. Pavi Francis (SMU) 6-4, 6-4

1st (64) - No. 48, #6 Csilla Borsanyi (Baylor) def. Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) 0-6; 7-6(4); 6-0
c-1st (32) - Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Catalina Cruz (UNT) 3-6; 6-3; 1-0(8)
c-2nd (16) - Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Maria Babanova (TCU) 6-1; 6-2
c-QF - Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Carla Lindlar (Baylor) 6-1; 7-6(5))
c-SF - Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Katarina Mlcochova (UTA) 6-3; 6-2
c-F - #9 Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) def. Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) 6-3; 6-4

1st (64) - Irina Paraschiv (UNT) def. Nicole Briceno (SMU) 6-1; 6-0
c-1st (32) - Sarah Lancaster (Texas) def. Nicole Briceno (SMU) 6-2, 6-0
bd - Nicole Briceno (SMU) def. Amy Joubert (UNT) 6-4, 6-1

ITA Regional Doubles
2nd (32) - #3 Marta Lesniak / Pavi Francis (SMU) def. Joanna Kacprzyk / Maja Kazimieruk (Houston) 8-1
3rd (16) - #3 Marta Lesniak / Pavi Francis (SMU) def. Federica Denti / Giorgia Pozzan (Sam Houston) 8-5
QF - #3 Marta Lesniak / Pavi Francis (SMU) def. #9 Megan Alexander / Maria Babanova (TCU) (9) 9-8
SF - #3 Marta Lesniak / Pavi Francis (SMU) def. #9 Irina Paraschiv / Madura Ranganathan (UNT) 8-2
F - #3 Marta Lesniak / Pavi Francis (SMU) def. #9 Morgan Frank / Lauren Santocroce (Texas A&M) 8-4

1st (64) - Roxana Enica / Alina Shazhko (SFA) def. Sophie Quist / Casey Kennedy (SMU) 8-5
c-2nd (16) - Sophie Quist / Casey Kennedy (SMU) def. Luisa Cantu / Reetta Raty (UTPA) (withdraw)
c-QF - Sophie Quist / Casey Kennedy (SMU) def. Manijee Ashrafi / Diana Mendez (Lamar) 8-3
c-SF - Carlene Leyden / Abby Liu (Texas) def. Sophie Quist / Casey Kennedy (SMU) 8-3

1st (64) - Janelle Cuthbertson / Ashley Turpin (Texas A&M) def. #9 Nicole Briceno / Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) 8-5
c-1st (32) - #9 Nicole Briceno / Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Ashley Akin / Shannon MacKenzie (UNT) 8-2
c-2nd (16) - #9 Nicole Briceno / Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Alexandra Pickerill / Laura Ring (Houston) 8-1
c-QF - #9 Nicole Briceno / Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Saskia Kruse / Mariana Perez (Texas State) (withdraw)
c-SF - #9 Nicole Briceno / Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) def. Julia Wiegand / Maya Zein (Texas) 8-5
c-F - Carlene Leyden / Abby Liu (Texas) def. #9 Nicole Briceno / Shahazoda Hatamova (SMU) 8-4

1st (64) - Claudia Hidalgo / Chanelle McGregor (SMU) def. Andrea Giraldo / Melissa Hadad (Texas State) 8-2
2nd (32) - #9 Stephanie Davidson / Sheri Olivier (Texas A&M) def. Claudia Hidalgo / Chanelle McGregor (SMU) 8-0
c - Mariaryeni Gutierrez / Kaltrina Harbuzi (Lamar) def. Claudia Hidalgo / Chanelle McGregor (SMU) 8-2

ITA Regional Qualifying Singles
1st (64) - Casey Kennedy (SMU) def. Andrea Salvetova (UTPA) 3-6; 6-0; 6-3
2nd (32) -Micaela Silva (9) (UTSA) def. Casey Kennedy (SMU) 6-2; 6-2
c-1st (16) - Casey Kennedy (SMU) def. Julia Wiegand (Texas) 7-6(1); 6-2