Sept. 26, 2008
Results
LAS VEGAS -
Senior Tanja Hrovatic advanced to the Flight 3 singles semifinals as the Illinois State women's tennis team struggled through day one at the UNLV Invitational Friday at Fertitta Tennis Complex.
Hrovatic defeated Oklahoma State's (OSU) Galina Semenova, 6-1, 6-4, to secure her spot in Saturday's semifinals, where she will face Yumi Hasegawa of Northern Arizona (NAU).
Redbird teammate Hannah Esker is also set to play in Saturday's Flight 4 singles semifinals, after she received a bye in Friday's quarterfinals. Also in singles Flight 4, Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) bested Redbird sophomore Carmen Peters, 6-1, 6-2.
After winning her first set, junior Julia Zubkova could not hold out and fell to Nataliya Shatkovskaya (OSU), 6-7, 6-0, 6-1, in Flight 1 singles play. In the same Flight, Missouri's Kaitlyn Ritchie (MU) defeated Redbird junior Natalia Lech, 6-2, 6-2.
Freshman Franziska Steinhardt will play in Saturday's Flight 2 singles consolation semi-finals after falling to Katy Williams (UNLV), 6-0, 6-2. Peters, Zubkova, and Lech will also play in Saturday's singles consolation semi-finals.
Head coach Chris Hoover felt the team did not play to their potential on day one.
"By the end of the matches, we started to play well," said Hoover. "However, by the end, it was too late. We need to come out strong and not let nerves get in the way."
In doubles play, the Redbird duo of Zubkova and Steinhardt fell to Jessica Giuggioli and Kaitlyn Ritchie (MU), 8-5, in Flight 2. The pair of Lech and Hrovatic also lost their doubles match, falling to Galina Semenova and Maryna Tkachenko (OSU), 8-1, in Flight 3.
Both Redbird pairs will play in Saturday's doubles consolation finals.
In Flight 4 doubles play, Esker and Peters were eliminated by Nikol Dimitrova and Adrienn Hidvegi (UNLV) when they lost, 8-3.
