TYLER, Texas – In an event shortened by lightening the St. Edward's women's tennis team was still able to leave an impressive mark at the Tyler Invite to open the fall season.
KATE MALAZONIA went 3-0 in her first tournament as a Hilltopper to win her draw. She opened with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over Alisa Morozan of MC in the first round and advanced to win 6-4, 6-2 over Ashley Ramirez of MSU to move on to the final. Malazonia had the match in hand, leading 5-2 over Summer Yardley of TJC before forcing Yardley to retire to secure the win.
ELISA GUILLEN went undefeated as well to win her draw. She nearly swept Amelie Saint-Dizier of UTPB in the opener, winning 6-0, 6-1 and made quick work of Mariana Quetzeri of Southwestern to advance to the final. In the final Guillen defeated Ira Vogelmann of DBU 6-1, 6-4 to remain perfect on the weekend.
LAURA GALVAN finished in fourth in her flight after winning her opener over Chloe Chawner of UT Tyler 7-6 (1), 6-1 before falling to Anna Brogan of TJC while Bethan Hayword lost her first match in Draw 1 to Brogan, but regrouped to win the consolation draw with easy wins over Chawner of UT Tyler and Leslie of DBU.
PAOLA CARPIO won her first match in epic fashion over Claire Nguyen of DBU, winning 7-6 (4), 5-7, 10-7 before falling to Yardley 6-3, 6-2. Carpio finished in third in the draw, defeating Ramirez of MSU 7-5, 6-3.
VALENTINA MARTINEZ took down Esther Bowers of Southwestern 7-5, 6-2 in Draw 3 and defeated Emilija Segetija of MSU 6-2, 7-6 (6).
FANNI NOVAK started strong with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stephanie Prats of UTPB and advanced to take on Nina Elez of Southwestern, pulling out the win 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-6 before falling to Victoria Roberts of MC.
LOLI PERIM lost her first match at Draw 6 but won her consolation match 6-4, 6-0 over Ana Asidan of UT Tyler.
Doubles play was canceled due to storms in the area.
"Overall I think it was a great start to the fall," said Head Coach Kendall Brooks. "This weekend is always about getting in a lot of matches and we were not only able to do that, but at a very high quality. I feel like we are in a really great place already and can only build on that in the upcoming weekends before Regionals."
St. Edward's returns to action on Friday, September 14 as they head to San Antonio to compete in the Rattler Invitational.
