Sept. 20, 2008
Williamsburg, Va. –
Miami women’s tennis sophomore Jenna Osborne advanced to the championship match from Saturday’s action on the second day of the 16th Annual William & Mary Invitational in Williamsburg, Va. She is the only UM player left in the main draw of this year’s event.
Osborne, a 5-foot-11 native of Somerset West, Western Cape (South Africa), defeated Richmond’s Catherine Crystal in straight sets 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the finals of Flight E singles play in the main draw. She’ll face William & Mary’s Maria Morrissey tomorrow afternoon for the championship.
In other singles action from Saturday, a pair of Hurricanes advanced to face each other in the consolation round in Flight A play.
Michael Kissell, ranked No. 49 in the nation, won a pair of matches on Saturday with wins over Ohio State’s Christina Keesey (6-4, 6-0) and Miami-Ohio student-athlete Anastasia Dracheva (6-1, 6-4). Kissell will square off with teammate Bianca Eichkorn, currently #109 in the nation, after she won both of her earlier matches.
Eichkorn collected straight set victories against Elon’s Anna Milian (6-2, ret.) followed by Memphis’ Ashley Murdock (6-3, 6-0).
Freshman Gabriela Mejia fell in a pair of matches today as she dropped an early main draw match in Flight B to Kelsey Haviland (Ohio State) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. She would drop her final match of the weekend to Richmond’s Erin Clark in a greatly contested match 1-6, 7-6 (2), 10-4.
Classmate Alessa Waibel fell in her main draw match of Flight C to Katharine Attwell (Boston College) 7-6 (5), 6-4. But she came back strong in the afternoon for a 6-4, 6-3 win over Penn State’s Sarah Lotto. Waibel faces Katie Kargl (William & Mary) tomorrow in the finals of the Flight C consolation draw.
Claudia Wasilewski, a sophomore from Boulogne, France, picked up a pair of consolation draw (Flight C) wins over Sara Abutovic of Winthrop (6-0, 6-2) and Richmond’s Kelly Tidwell (6-3, 3-6, 10-6). Wasilewski will face Helen Cunningham tomorrow in the finals of consolation Flight C action.
Lauren Greco fell in the main draw of Flight D to Harvard’s Samantha Rosekrans 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.
Doubles play saw two teams from the Hurricanes advance in the consolation draws.
Eichkorn and Waibel teamed up to defeat Miami-Ohio’s duo of Danesis and Martzolf (8-3) to advance into the quarterfinals of the consolation draw Flight A doubles. Fellow UM players Mejia and Osborne combined for a victory (walkover) against Boston College’s Delaney and Mabatah.
Arkansas’ team of Airapetian and Miseviciute outlasted UM’s Kissell and Greco 9-8 (5) in the semifinals of Flight A doubles play.
Action continues on Sunday in the final round of this year’s William & Mary Invitational. Statistics and results will continue to be available throughout the remainder of the tournament by visiting the William & Mary athletic website at www.tribeathletics.com.