Oct. 25, 2009

Lawrence, Kan. - This past weekend, the Tigers split up and competed at two different venues during the final weekend of fall competition. Four members of the team (sophomore Jamie Mera, juniors Mallory Weber and Kaitlyn Ritchie, and senior Sophia Ayala) were all selected for the main draw in both singles and doubles at the ITA Regional, which was held in Norman, Oklahoma. The bottom four members of the Tiger squad (freshman Andrea Lewis, sophomore Danielle Day, and juniors Kristin Bleakley and Maureen Modesto) went to the Jayhawk Invitational, or Regional Optional, in Lawrence, Kansas.

Although the Tigers only sent four to Lawrence, the foursome put together an impressive weekend, claiming three of the five brackets up for grabs. Besides Mizzou, other teams at the KU Invitational were host Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, New Mexico, Arkansas State, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), and Abilene Christian University.

A Bracket - Freshman Andrea Lewis won three matches to claim a spot in the A Championship match. In the finals, she competed against a familiar face in teammate Kristen Bleakley, who also dispatched three straight opponents to earn her spot in the title match. Lewis took a hard fought three set win over Bleakley in the final match Sunday morning.

"This was a solid weekend for both Andrea and Kristen," said MU Coach Blake Starkey. "Their match with each other was ok, but I was much more impressed with the fight both girls showed in their earlier matches. Different styles, but they're both gritty and both fight hard."

"Dani was really in control of the match, but went through a spell where she just let up a bit. And a big part of that was Marie who battled hard, played a great match and gave herself every opportunity. Could've gone either way, but Dani played big points really well and showed guts there at the end. Neither girl lost. We were just a little more fortunate. It was a great match."

A Doubles Bracket - The Tigers claimed the "A" Doubles bracket, defeating UMKC's Bouet and Dalvai in the finals.

C Bracket - Tiger junior Maureen Modesto won her first two matches before falling in the semi-finals to Kansas State's Carmen Borau Ramos.

"Overall, we competed well, and you could tell the girls enjoyed the challenges," said Coach Blake Starkey. "The field was great, and we were fortunate to win some close matches against some good players. But like everybody else, we still have work to do. This was just one weekend, and you can't get too excited. But we competed well, and I'm proud of the girls. Doubles is coming together and we're doing a better job showing we understand responsibilities and what we're trying to do when we play doubles. We'll take a couple of days to make sure everyone's on top of their classes, and then we'll get back to work."