Marcu, Glas Lead Women's Tennis At Brown Invitational
October 7, 2002 | Women's Tennis
Senior captain Alana Marcu and junior Elisa Glas won the C and D singles flights, respectively, to lead the Terrier women's tennis team at the Brown Invitational over the weekend (October 4-6).
It was the first tournament of the fall season for the Terriers, who had opened their 2002-03 year with a 7-0 win over the University of New Hampshire on September 17th.
"Overall, I was very pleased with how we played," said Terrier head coach Lesley Sheehan. "We came away from the tournament as the second strongest team with Alabama being the top team in the tournament. I feel good about our team as we head into the ECACs this weekend.
"I was very happy for Alana," the coach continued. "This was the fourth year that she has competed in the tournament, and, based on how hard she has worked, she really deserved to win it."
Alana Marcu Photo by Rob Klein.
Marcu, from Leonia, NJ and the only senior on the Terrier roster, went into the competition seeded third in the C flight but came away with the title after beating Alabama's Melissa Minor, 3-6, 6-3 (9) in the final match. Earlier, she defeated Boston College's Jessica Engel, 6-2, 6-1, in the opening round, Alabama's Natalie McElveen, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the second round, and Kristine Holt of Syracuse, 6-0, 7-3 (3) in the semifinals.
Glas, from Irun, Spain, had missed a week of practice earlier in the fall with an injury and went into the D flight unseeded. In the opening round, she upset fourth-seeded Liz Gass of Harvard, 6-4, 6-2. She had little difficulty disposing of Alabama's Julie Ferguson, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round. In the third round, she pulled off another upset when she eliminated second-seeded Kim Singer of Brown, 6-3, 6-2. She saved the best for last in the finals when she defeated top-seeded Bridget Barbera, also of Brown, 4-6, 6-1 (3).
Another pleasant surprise for the Terriers came in the A flight where junior Elena deMendoza (Madrid, Spain) finished third. Unseeded when the competition began, she defeated Syracuse's Danielle Kaluskova, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening match. Then, in her second round, she defeated fourth-seeded Alison Hashmall of Princeton, 7-5, 6-4. In the semifinals, she lost to Alabama's Marie Andrade, 6-1, 4-6 (8), but deMendoza bounced back to win the consolation match when Princeton's Jessica Seibel had to retire after the first set.
Terrier junior Lindsey Dynof (Colts Neck, NJ) also competed in the A flight and was seeded number one. However, in her first match, she lost to Princeton's Seibel, 6-4, 6-1. Dynof came back to win two matches in the feed-in bracket, but she lost in the semifinals to Princeton's Hashmall, 6-2, 6-2.
The Terriers also had two competitors in the B flight-freshmen Zuzana Melicherova (Caracas, Venezuela) and Laura Ahmes (Sarasota, FL).
Melicherova was seeded first and advanced to the semifinals after a 6-1, 6-2 win over Dartmouth's Evie Stevens and Amy Molden of Boston College, 6-4, 3-6 (10). Then, in the semis, she lost to Alabama's Natalie Koppelle, 6-4, 6-4. Playing against BC's Emily Yeomans, Melicherova had to withdraw due to a bad shoulder.
In the meantime, Ahmes, who was seeded fourth in the flight, lost her first match to Princeton's Susan Meng, 3-6, 6-2 (6). In the feed-in bracket, she won her first match over Harvard's Lola Ajilore, 5-7, 7-5 (5), 10-6, before she lost her next match to Syracuse's Trine Lise Juliessen.
Freshman Aimee Charest (Somerset) joined Marcu in the C flight. However, she lost her first match to BC's Emily Hellberg, 6-3, 6-2. She then lost her opening match in the feed-in bracket, a 6-0, 6-2 decision to Brown's Caroline Casey, who was seeded fourth in the flight.
Finally, in the D flight, junior Hannah Bartell (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) went into the competition seeded fourth, while freshman Monica Shepherd (Austin, TX) was unseeded.
Bartell lost her first match to Brown's Mariana Lee, 6-3, 6-2, while Shepherd advanced through default over Syracuse's Tricia Sargent. Bartell bounced back to win the feed-in bracket in impressive form with four wins. She shut out Syracuse's Alexa Konstand, 6-0, 6-0 in the first match. She then posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alabama's Julie Ferguson. In her third match, she met Shepherd and came away with a 4-6, 6-3 (9) win. Finally, she defeated Christina Chen of Harvard, 1-6, 6-2 (6) to win the bracket.
After winning her first-round match by default, Shepherd lost to second-seeded Kim Singer of Brown, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8. She then moved to the feed-in bracket where she eliminated Dartmouth's Janis Hui, 6-2, 6-2, before she met Bartell in the semis.
In doubles play, Dynof and deMendoza teamed up in flight A where they finished fourth after losing to Alabama's Sophie Cremers and Natalie McElveen, 8-1, in the third-place match. In flight B, Melicherova and Ahmes lost to BCs Alison Alison Ashley and Emily Yeomans in their first match, 9-8 (4). In flight C, Marcu and Shepherd finished fourth after they defaulted to Brown's Yelena Klurfeld and Stephanie Falconi. Finally, in flight D, Charest and Bartell lost to a combined team of Princeton's Nancy Zeronda and Harvard's Liz Gass, 9-7.
