Nov. 5, 2010
USTA/ITA Indoor Draws | HEB Invite Draws
FLUSHING, N.Y. - With full slate of action on the day, Baylor women's tennis players competed in both the USTA/ITA Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Flushing, N.Y., and the HEB Baylor Invitational at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
At the Indoor Championships, the Baylor doubles team of Sona Novakova and Nina Secerbegovic cruised to victory over Stanford's duo of Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs 8-4. The Baylor duo, however, retired from the tournament due to injury. Meanwhile, in singles Novakova faced on Ahn once again, but the Stanford Cardinal took the match 6-2, 6-2.
"The ladies played much better today overall," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "It was great to see them execute and play solid doubles. Sona was just out classed by a very talented young player. I'm confident she'll do whatever it takes to improve her game and learn from this loss."
At the HEB Baylor Invitational, senior Karolina Filipiak turned in an undefeated day, winning both of her singles matches, as well as her lone doubles match with partner Aya Bara. Filipiak defeated Lee University's Laura Secvise 6-3, 6-0, then took down Michelle Reyes of Our Lady of the Lake University 6-0, 6-0 to reach the Round of 16.
In doubles, Filipiak and Bara held strong throughout the match, taking a 9-7 victory over Rebekka Hanle and Kim Anicete. The pair earned a spot in the quarterfinals after receiving a first-round bye.
"Karolina did a great job being a leader on the court today," assistant coach Alison Ojeda said. "She has been working on a few different things that helped us to win the big points. Aya stepped up and served tremendously well this morning, making it easy for Karo to finish points off at the net."
Bara earned a first-round victory over Austin College's Arianna Goddard in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. In the second round, Bara added another victory in a super-tiebreaker over Nikola Matovicova of UT-Arlington by a score of 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-4).
"Aya did a really good job today of playing steady tennis," Ojeda said. "She has been working hard on a specific game and executed it well all day long. She is improving every day."
In other singles action, Baylor's newest member, Abby Stainback, won her first match as a Lady Bear, defeating OLLU's Audrey Alba in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. Stainback then lost to Georgia's Maho Kowase 6-1, 6-0 in the Round of 32.
"Abby made her first appearance today as a Baylor Bear and represented us well," Ojeda said. "She started off the day with a win and met up with a very tough Geogia player in the 2nd round. Abby is going to be a tremendous addition to our program."
The Baylor contingent in the HEB Invitational field will continue action on Saturday at the Baylor Tennis Center. Doubles begins at 9 a.m., while singles will start at 11:30 a.m.
