Firebirds Women’s Tennis Features Singles Finalist, Quarterfinalist at ITA East Regional Championship
PHILADELPHIA – Sophomore Peerada Looareesuwan reached the Women's B Singles Finals and senior Jessica Nunez made it to the quarterfinals of the Women's A Singles draw, highlighting an impressive weekend for the University of the District of Columbia women's tennis team at the ITA East Regional Championship.
Looareesuwan (Computer Science – Bangkok Thailand/Demonstration School of Ramkhamhaeng University) won five consecutive matches to advance to the finals of the Women's B Singles draw. First, she beat Georgian Court's Kayanna Chandler, 8-3 and then cruised in the second round with an 8-1 win over Philadelphia University's Sylvia Bennicelli. The round of 16 saw her defeat Bentley's Susan Stowe, 8-2, and then she ousted Merrimack's Kara Hole, 8-1 in the quarterfinals and Stonehill's Kaitlyn Martin, 8-3 in the semifinals. She ultimately would lose a tough match to Merrimack's Chelsey Giatrelis, 6-3, 7-5.
Nunez (Electrical Engineering – Guayquil, Ecaudor/American School of Guayaquil), who came in ranked No. 8 in the region, received a first round bye. In her first action of the day, she handed Holy Family's Anastasiya Kolodiy a 6-3, 6-3 round two loss. She then followed that up with an impressive, 6-3, 6-2 win over the No. 9 ranked Linda Eliasson of Concordia in the round of 16. Her quarterfinal match pit her against the region's No. 2 ranked player, Jenna Plevako of Queens, where she was bested, 6-3, 6-3.
In other Firebird action, freshman Tamara Kenia (Graphic Design – Donetsk, Ukraine/Donetsk Lyceum College) bounced back from a tough first set to defeat Georgian Court's Maria Leal, 0-6, 6-0, 10-5 in the first round of the Women's A Singles draw. A tough draw in round two pit her against the No. 7 ranked player in the region, Goldey-Beacom's Stephanie Puentes, where she was defeated, 6-2, 6-1. Also in the A Singles draw, junior Maxime Duijst (Biology – Valkenswaard, Netherlands/Pleincollege Sint-Joris) drew a first round bye before falling to LIU Post's Lucie Chrastecka, 6-0, 6-2 in round two. Also, senior Sofia Leon (Psychology – Quito, Ecuador/Pensionado Universitario) and Alicia Gallard (Business Management – Blaison-Gohier, France/Joachim Du Bellay) both earned first round wins in the Women's B Singles draw on Saturday, but were both defeated in round two the next day.
Duijst and Looareesuwan teamed up for a first round win in the Women's A Doubles draw, but fell to the No. 2 ranked doubles team in the region from Queens, 8-2 in the next round. Leon and Gallard also earned a first round win in the B Doubles draw, but lost to a Philadelphia University pair, 8-1 in round two.
The Firebirds enter back into East Coast Conference play with their first road match of the season at NYIT on Friday, September 27th at 3 p.m. The Bears are the reigning ECC champions and the pre-season favorite to repeat in 2013.