Jan. 25, 2009

DORCHESTER, Mass. - A day after earning a 4-3 decision against Harvard by winning the final singles point, the Boston University women's tennis team lost the last point on Sunday afternoon against Brown University, falling 4-3, to drop to 1-1 on the year on a neutral court in Dorchester, Mass.

The Bears (1-0) won two of the three doubles matches and split the six singles contests with the Terriers.

In singles action, all of the matches were decided in two sets. Casey Herzberg gave Brown an early 2-0 lead by defeating Francine Whu, 6-2, 6-0, in the No. 2 match, but Elizabeth Corrao quickly put the Terriers on the board with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Cate Stewart at No. 5. In the No. 3 match, Petra Santini tied the score by earning a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Sara Mansur.

The two teams split the next two matches with the Bears' Tanja Vucetic beating Vanessa Steiner, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6 and the Terriers' Cori Lefkowith earning a 6-2, 7-5 decision over Julie Flanzer in the No. 4 match.

The final point came down to the No. 1 contest with Stefanie Nunic battling the second ranked player in the ITA East region rankings, Bianca Aboubakare. Nunic lost the first set and was unable to extend the match to three sets after dropping the second set tiebreaker to give Aboubakare the 6-4, 7-6(6) victory.

In earlier doubles action, the two teams battled hard for what turned out to be a crucial point. In the No. 1 match, the seventh-ranked team in the region of Aboubakare/Mansur defeated Whu/Nunic, 8-6. The Terriers tied it up, as Danielle Abraham and Lefkowith earned an 8-6 decision over Emily Ellis/Kathrin Sorokko. In the final match at No. 2, Corrao/Steiner went to a tiebreaker with Herzberg/Marisa Schonfeld but lost the 9-8(4) decision to give the Bears the doubles point.

Up next for the Terriers is their first match of the season at the Track and Tennis Center, as they host Army on Sunday (Feb. 1) at 11 a.m.

Brown University - 4, Boston University - 3

Singles
1) Bianca Aboubakare (Brown) def. Stefanie Nunic (Boston U.), 6-4, 7-6 (6)
2) Casey Herzberg (Brown) def. Francine Whu (Boston U.), 6-2, 6-0
3) Petra Santini (Boston U.) def. Sara Mansur (Brown), 6-3, 6-2
4) Cori Lefkowith (Boston U.) def. Julie Flanzer (Brown,) 6-2, 7-5
5) Elizabeth Corrao (Boston U.) def. Cate Stewart (Brown), 6-2, 6-2
6) Tanja Vucetic (Brown) def. Vanessa Steiner (Boston U.), 6-4, 6-2

Doubles
1) Aboubakare/Mansur (Brown) def. Nunic/Whu (Boston U.) 8-6
2) Herzberg / Marisa Schonfeld (Brown) def. Corrao/Steiner (Boston U.), 9-8(4)
3) Lefkowith / Danielle Abraham (Boston U.) def. Kathrin Sorokko / Emily Ellis (Brown) 8-6