Sports > September 20, 2007

By Alisha Talbot | Staff writer

Wake Forest women’s tennis had a strong showing in the season opener Sept. 14-16 at the St. Mary’s classic in Knoxville, Ten.

In the Flight 1 doubles, senior captain Alex Hirsch paired up with freshman Emilee Malvehy to defeat Purdue’s Brooke Beier and Cigdem Duru in a close 8-6 match.

They fell in the second round to Tennessee’s Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor, 8-4.

Juniors Sierra Poske and Christian Tara paired up for the Flight 2 doubles bracket. After losing their first round to N.C. State, 8-3, Poske and Tara defeated North Carolina’s Laura Reichert and Jelena Duricik, 9-7.

In their last doubles match of the tournament, Poske and Tara fell in a close match to the Lady Vols, 8-6.

In the Flight 3 doubles bracket, junior Jenna Loeb and freshman Sasha Kulikova defeated Purdue 8-5 but lost in their second round match to North Carolina’s Meg Fanjoy and Alexandra Jurewitz, 8-4.

In the singles draw, redshirted Hirsch played in the Flight 1 bracket, where she took a three-set win off of Purdue’s Brooke Beier 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Hirsch fell to Daria Petrovic of N.C. State in a tough three setter, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. She finished her match play in the consolation round with a loss to Notre Dame’s Brook Buck, 6-1, 6-1.

Senior Jenna Loeb took a decisive victory over Middle Tennessee State’s Shannon Hartman, 6-2, 6-1.

However, she fell in the semifinals of her draw to Kali Krisik of Notre Dame, 6-1, 6-3. Poske took her first round win over ETSU’s Tara Sheets, 6-1, 6-2. However, after her second-round loss to N.C. State’s Lenka Hojckova, 7-5, 7-6 (8), Poske came back to defeat Tennessee’s Ghizela Schutte in the consolation draw, 6-1, 6-3.

Sophomore Sasha Kulikova represented the Deacs in the Flight 2 Bracket of singles.

In her first round match she defeated MTSU’s Stephanie Parkison, 6-0, 6-2.

However, Kulikova fell to Notre Dame’s Colleen Rielley in the semifinals.

Kulikova had a tough loss with two tie-breaker sets in her consolation match to Caitlin Whorisky of Tennessee, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3).

Freshmen Katarina Reveche and Emilee Malvehy had their first collegiate match experiences and proved to have promising futures with the Deacs.

Reveche had two victories over the weekend, including her first ACC win over N.C. State’s Julia Roach, 6-4, 6-4.

Malvehy played for the Deacons in the Flight 6 draw and also received her first ACC victory of North Carolina’s 6-3, 6-1.

The Lady Deacons will host the Deacon Classic, beginning match play Sept. 21.