Syracuse University
St. John's (BIG EAST Championship)
Orange Advances With Win Against St. John's
4/19/2007 7:49:46 PM | Tennis
Tampa, Fla-The sixth-seed Syracuse Orange (8-8) defeated the 11th-seed St. John’s Red Storm (7-10), 4-2, in the first round of the 2007 BIG EAST Women’s Tennis Championship on Thursday, April 19, in Tampa. Syracuse swept the doubles point and won three singles matches for the victory. The Orange will face third-seed Louisville in the quarterfinals on Friday at noon.
Syracuse started out hot, sweeping the doubles point for the third-straight match. Junior Olga Votavova and sophomore Maria Vasilyeva won at No. 1, 8-6. Junior Catherine Zawadzki and freshman Chelsea Jones won their second doubles match in a row at No. 2, 8-4. Seniors Carolina Huignard and Ashley Lipton closed out the point with a win at No. 3, 8-2.
Zawadzki, Lipton and Huignard all won singles matches in straight-sets for the Orange to seal the victory. Zawadzki blanked Ira Aleksova at No. 3, 6-0, 6-0. Lipton topped Lauren Leo at No. 5, 6-2, 6-1. Huignard bested Gabija Gasiunaite at No. 5, 6-2, 6-3.
Votavova lost at No. 1 singles to Nataly Tumsevica, 2-6, 4-6, snapping her eight match winning streak. Votavova’s last loss came against St. John’s in the regular season.
The win avenged a 6-1 Syracuse loss to St. John’s in the regular season. Syracuse and Louisville met in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals last season in the first ever match between the two schools. Both teams were seeded the same and the Cardinals came out on top, 4-1.
