Oct. 31, 2014

WILD WEST SHOOTOUT CENTRAL

DENTON — Through Day 1 of the Wild West Shootout, North Texas has advanced all three of its doubles pairs to the second round, while three of the six Mean Green players won their first round singles matches.

It was a chilly and windy - yet sunny and high-spirited - Friday morning into afternoon as head coach Sujay Lama and the tennis team got things started around 9 a.m. Everyone who came to the Waranch Tennis Center was treated to spectacular tennis, and then a nice grilled lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs, courtesy of Lama’s wife, Lynn.

“Day 1 at the Wild West Shootout was a huge success,” Lama said. “Free food, good tennis and great weather should motivate more Mean Green fans to come out and support us the rest of the weekend.”

At the top of the Green draw, junior Anastasiya Shestakova put away sophomore Amy Leiu of NCTC by a score of 6-2, 6-0. The win puts Shestakova in the second round for a highly-anticipated matchup with UT Arlington junior Elizabeth Thoms. In the other half of the Green draw, senior Kseniya Bardabush lost 6-3, 6-4 to freshman Tina Bokhua of Colorado. It was Bardabush’s first action of the fall season and she will face senior Natasha Rizvi of Air Force tomorrow.

Sophomore Alexis Thoma defeated Air Force sophomore Lily Forlini in the White draw by a score of 6-2, 6-3, and she will now move on to play junior Dhanielly Quevedo of SFA tomorrow. In the Silver draw, junior Agustina Valenzuela also advanced to the second round, as she breezed by Air Force freshman Carley Hatcliff by a score of 6-0, 6-1. Valenzuela is now set to face SFA sophomore Macarena Sedano Acosta in the second round.

The most strenuous match of the day for North Texas involved sophomore Ana Sofia Cordero and junior Valeria Terentyeva of SFA in the Black draw. In a three-set marathon, Terentyeva pulled away with a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2 victory. Cordero now drops down to play Air Force senior Marcelli Magday tomorrow.

“Our overall singles performance was good,” Lama analyzed. “Although the outcomes of Kseniya’s and Ana Sofia’s matches were not what we had hoped, both of them put up valiant effort and fight.”

In the Green doubles draw, the team of Shestakova and junior Kamilla Galieva defeated Air Force and will now face a UT Arlington duo of sophomores Astrid Gehre and Angelos de los Rios. Bardabush and Thoma notched a win over SFA and will also play a UT Arlington team tomorrow: Thoms and sophomore Ekaterina Tugarinova.

As the only Mean Green doubles pair in the White draw, Cordero and Valenzuela represented very well, as they were able to defeat Air Force. That moves them into a matchup with Acosta and sophomore Denise Maxl of SFA tomorrow.

Play at the Wild West Shootout will begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. beginning with doubles, then following with singles.

Singles Results

First Round:
Bardabush loses to Colorado, 6-3, 6-4
Cordero loses to SFA, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2
Galieva loses to Air Force, 4-1 (def)
Shestakova defeats NCTC, 6-2, 6-0
Thoma defeats Air Force, 6-2, 6-3
Valenzuela defeats Air Force, 6-0, 6-1

Doubles Results

First Round:
Bardabush/Thoma defeat SFA, 8-1
Cordero/Valenzuela defeat Air Force, 8-5
Galieva/Shestakova defeat Air Force, 8-3

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