Sports > September 27, 2007

By Alisha Talbot | Staff writer

The Wake Forest women’s tennis team came to play at their home courts for the Deacon Classic Sept. 21-23.

Sophomore Sasha Kulikova proved herself, playing at the top of the lineup for the first time after winning the flight one draw for the Deacs.

Kulikova took her first-round match against Georgia State’s Martina Nitkova, 6-3, 6-3.

She then went on to defeat Illinois’ Megan Fudge in straight sets and won her final match against University of Richmond’s Pamela Duran in a three-set fight, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Junior Sierra Poske won her flight draw with wins over UNC-Charlotte, Dartmouth and University of Illinois.

In the finals, Poske defeated freshman Katye Zapadalova from University of Illinois in a tough three-set match, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Both freshmen Katarina Reveche and Emilee Malvehy continued their collegiate tennis success by winning both their single flight draws.

Malvehy received a bye her first round and then went on to defeat Marisa Lambropoulos of University of Illinois in the second round, 6-2, 6-2.

In the finals of the flight three draw, Malvehy beat University of Richmond’s Kelly Tidwell, 6-4, 6-4.

The flight four draw was won by Wake’s freshman Katarina Reveche. She beat Georgia State’s Jackie Payne in the first round, 6-1, 6-1.

After losing a tough first set in her second round match to Indiana University’s Myriam Sopel, Reveche fought back to enter the finals against University of Illinois’ Momei Qu, 6-2, 6-2.

Senior Jenna Loeb lost in the finals of the flight five draw after having two decisive victories over UNC-Charlotte’s Kimber Redfern and Indiana University’s Sigrid Fischer.

In the top spot for doubles, Kulikova paired up with Poske.

The pair won its first round match against Illinois, 9-2. After their second round loss to Indiana’s Zapadalova and Williams, the Deacs won their last match to Indiana’s Berdala and Fischer, 8-4.

In the flight two doubles draw, Reveche paired up with Loeb to take their first round match against Davidson’s Dushanova and Rauh, 8-5.

In a two hour second round match, the Deacs fell in a tiebreaker to Indiana’s Clark and Guerreiro, 9-8 (5). They lost their last match to Illinois’ Dave and McCarthy, 8-4.

The next set of matches for the Lady Deacons will be at the ITA All-Americans in California at the end of September.

Redshirt senior and captain Alex Hirsch will be leading the team.