Syracuse University
West Virginia
SU Dusts West Virginia in First Round
4/16/2009 4:19:12 PM | Tennis
No. 7 Syracuse 4, No. 10 West Virginia 0
Tournament Central | Tournament Bracket
TAMPA, Fla. – The seventh-seeded Syracuse tennis team continued its tear with a 4-0 victory against 10th-seeded West Virginia in the first round of the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament on Friday morning at the Andros Dorm Courts on South Florida's campus.
With the Orange's eighth consecutive BIG EAST victory, sixth straight on the road, comes a second-round date with second-seeded DePaul tomorrow, April 17 at 9:00 a.m.
Syracuse overcame heavy Mountaineers' pressure all through the doubles portion of the match and pulled out two of three victories to claim the doubles point.
The No. 1 doubles team of freshman Emily Harman and sophomore Christina Tan set the standard with an 8-4 triumph against Gabriela Blaskovicova and Ashley Pilsbury for their club-best 17th win of the year.
The No. 2 junior pair of Ashley Spicer and Chelsea Jones ran into Monique Burton and Stephanie LaFortune, suffering an 8-4 setback in the second match.
Sophomore Simone Kalhorn and freshman Alessondra Parra salvaged the doubles point in a tightly-contests 9-7 victory against Veronica Cardenas and Olga Elkin at the No. 3 match.
Tan, Kalhorn and Spicer sealed Syracuse's first win of the BIG EAST Tournament by ousting their opponents in solo action. In the BIG EAST Tournament format, the team that reaches four points first claims the match.
Tan jumped all over Kathryn Haught at the No. 2 singles match with a 6-1, 6-2 victory to put WVU back on its heels.
With the Orange owning a 2-0 lead, Kalhorn rallied in the No. 3 solo slot with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Elkin to put SU one win away from victory.
At the No. 5 post, Spicer battled Pilsbury in a back-and-forth battle, but in the end, Spicer's stamina outlasted her opponent for the 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 triumph and clinched the first-round win for Syracuse.
Harman was penciled into the top spot against LaFortune, Parra clashed with Cardenas at the No. 4 singles match while Jones took on Burton at the No. 6 position, but with Spicer's victory, all three matches ceased due to SU's four points.
Kalhorn is the only player to have won all of her singles outings in the midst of Syracuse's eight-match winning streak. Kalhorn and Parra's four-match doubles winning streak stands as a team best.
Head coach Luke Jensen is now 6-6 in the BIG EAST Tournament. The victory marked SU's second win against West Virginia this season, but the Orange has not played DePaul yet this year. The last time Syracuse and the Blue Demons met was on Feb. 23, 2008 in Milwaukee. DePaul was No. 69 in the country as the Windy City school prevailed, 6-1.
In other first round action, fifth-seeded Rutgers and sixth-seeded Louisville joined the Orange in sweeping their opponents. The Scarlet Knights downed 12th-ranked UConn, 4-0, while UofL did the same against 11th-seeded St. John's. Ninth-seeded Pittsburgh survived eighth-ranked Cincinnati, 4-3.
Doubles
1. Emily Harman/Christina Tan (SU) def. Blaskovicova/Pilsbury (WVU), 8-4
2. Burton/LaFortune (WVU) def. Chelsea Jones/Ashley Spicer (SU), 8-4
3. Simone Kalhorn/Alessondra Parra (SU) def. Cardenas/Elkin (WVU), 9-7
Singles
1. Emily Harman (SU) vs. Stephanie LaFortune (WVU), DNF
2. Christina Tan (SU) def. Kathryn Haught (WVU), 6-1, 6-2
3. Simone Kalhorn (SU) def. Olga Elkin (WVU), 6-4, 6-2
4. Alessondra Parra (SU) vs. Veronica Cardenas (WVU), DNF
5. Ashley Spicer (SU) def. Ashley Pilsbury (WVU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
6. Chelsea Jones (SU) vs. Monique Burton (WVU), DNF
