Lileikite Advances at Riviera Championships
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Miami’s Lina Lileikite advanced to the third and final qualifying round at the 28th Annual Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships at the Riviera Tennis Club on Tuesday.
The 64th-ranked Lilekite’s tournament began with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Penn’s Augustina Eskenaz, who is ranked No. 107 in the preseason ITA rankings.
Following that win, Lilekite had to face the 57th-ranked Klara Vyskocilova of Tulane. Vyskocilova jumped to a first set victory at 2-6. However, Lileikite responded with a 6-4 win in the second set. The Miami sophomore then found herself down 3-5 in the final set before closing out the match on a 4-0 streak, winning 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
“I believe that Lina had an extremely important day for her career,” assistant women’s tennis coach Alex Santos said. “She was able to get back on the court and be the better competitor after a tough loss in doubles. Right now she is a more complete, mature player than she has been in the past.
“I was impressed with how fit she looked after more than six hours on the court.”
Lileikite will face the 37th-ranked Maho Kowase of Georgia on Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the main draw.
In doubles, Bolivar and Lileikite battled, but fell to the Yale tandem of Epstein and Sullivan, 8-6.
“Meli and Lina came a little bit short in doubles against a very good team from Yale,” Santos said. “We still need to work on implementing the patterns that will make us the most successful. Our effort and will were where they need to be. There will be nothing but improvement if we continue with this type of mentality.
“These girls continue to represent Miami tennis with the passion and commitment that we are known for.”
Follow the ITA on Twitter, @ITAtennis, for updates and news from Pacific Palisades. Use the hashtag #RivieraITA for all tweets in regards to the event, or search the term “RivieraITA” to find others who are tweeting about the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-Americans Championships.
