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NCAA women's tennis: 11 players advance in singles bracket

by Kevin Danna
May 20, 2015
John McGillen / UCLA Athletics

Pac-12 tennis players went 11-7 in the first round of the NCAA women’s tennis singles tournament Wednesday in Waco, Texas, led by four victories from Bruins players and three from Trojans. Ten tandems will play in doubles play beginning Thursday.

Arizona

Arizona’s lone singles participant on the women’s side was sent packing in the first round, with Lauren Marker dropping a two-setter against TCU’s Simona Parajova (6-2, 6-3 in favor of the Horned Frog). The sophomore Marker finished the season 6-7 against ranked foes after falling to the 46th-ranked Parajova (Marker was ranked 55th). The Wildcats’ doubles team of Briar Preston and Shane Austin will face sixth-seeded Brooke Austin/Kourtney Keegan of Florida in the Thursday’s first round of doubles play.

Arizona State

Like their desert rivals, the Sun Devils are out of the singles bracket as Desirae Krawczyk fell to Mississippi’s Julia Jones in three sets after taking the first (3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in favor of Jones) in a match that featured a 75-minute rain delay. No shame here – ranked 30th by the ITA, Krawczyk was going up against a No. 9-16 seed who happened to be ranked 10th in women’s singles by ITA. Krawzcyk will be in action with Stephanie Vlad in doubles play Thursday as the duo takes on Eva Paalma/Rachel Pierson of Texas A&M in round of 32 doubles action.

California

It was a 50-50 day for the Golden Bears, going 2-2 in singles play Wednesday. Zsofi Susanyi got the Bears off to a nice start as the 43rd-ranked Susanyi doused 49th-ranked Yuliya Lysa of Arkansas in straight sets (6-3, 6-2), but Denise Starr couldn’t hold on to a first-set edge as she fell to Michigan’s Ronit Yurovsky in three sets (1-6, 7-5, 6-2). The second Golden Bear to nab a first-round victory was also the highest-seeded Oski-ite, as fourth-seeded Maegan Manasse overcame first-set troubles to knock off VCU’s Cindy Chala 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Klara Fabikova was the last Golden Bear to finish singles play for the day, falling to Vandy’s Sydney Campbell (the No. 8 seed) in two sets (6-3, 6-4). Cal has two doubles teams going in that bracket – Manasse/Starr and Susanyi/Fabikova.

[Related: NCAA women's singles championship bracket (CSTV.com)]

Stanford

Stanford players won two of their three singles bouts Wednesday. No. 9-16 seed Danielle Collins of Virginia played up to snuff in a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Stanford’s Taylor Davidson. Not much later, however, Stanford pushed one of its own top seeds through to the round of 32 as second-seeded Carol Zhao had no problems in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Georgia Tech’s Paige Hourigan. Caroline Doyle pushed Stanford to the right side of .500 for the day via her 6-3, 6-4 victory over Despoina Vogasari of Houston. The Cardinal has two doubles teams set to begin play Thursday – the Pac-12 doubles champs Zhao/Davidson and Doyle is paired up with Ellen Tsay.

UCLA

Four up and one down for UCLA. Doing battle in the night matches, UCLA got quick singles victories from top-seeded Robin Anderson (6-1, 6-3 over Stephanie Nauta of Virginia), Catherine Harrison (6-4, 6-3 over Virginia Tech’s Francesca Fusinato) and Jennifer Brady (7-6 (3), 6-3 against third-seeded Brooke Austin of Florida). On the other side of the coin, Kyle McPhillips dropped a two-setter to No. 9-16 seed Josie Kuhlman of Florida (6-4, 6-1 in favor of the Gator). In the last match of the night to go final, Chanelle Van Nguyen was pushed to the brink before taking out South Carolina’s Elixane Lechemia in three sets (2-6, 7-6, 6-0) in a match that was forced indoors due to lightning in the area. The Bruins have two doubles teams getting ready for that tournament – Brady/Anderson and Harrison/McPhillips.

USC

While the men finished up 3-0, the USC women posted a not-so-shabby result of their own with a 3-1 Thursday performance. There’s something about these USC freshmen – after carrying the Trojans into the team semis alongside fellow rooks Meredith Xepoleas and Gabby Smith, Madison Westby outlasted Florida’s Brianna Morgan in a three-set thriller in round of 64 singles action, breaking the Gator in the last game of the match to notch a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 victory. North Carolina’s Jamie Loeb momentarily stopped the Trojans’ good vibes, taking down Zoë Scandalis 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. The other results were positive, however, with Sabrina Santamaria handling William and Mary’s Leeza Nemchinov 6-1, 6-2 and Olmos advancing to the round of 32 after Astra Sharma of recently-crowned national champion Vanderbilt retired in their first-round match (Olmos won the first set 6-1). There are two Trojan duos set for the doubles tournament – Zoë Katz/ Santamaria and Scandalis/Olmos.

Pac-12.com will provide daily updates of the NCAA women’s tennis singles and doubles championships, which continue Thursday and run through Monday.

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