Lady'Backs face tough competition lone Lady'Back advances to finals

Lexington, Ky.—The University of Arkansas women’s tennis team played several competitive matches on the second day of the UK Fall Classic Saturday, finishing the day 7-8 overall with one Arkansas player advancing to her flight championship match on Sunday. The Lady Razorbacks finished Saturday 3-5 in singles competition and 4-3 in doubles. After Saturday’s competition, the Lady’Backs overall record for the fall eclipses the 50-win mark at 54-24. “We played some excellent tennis today and overall I was pleased,” said head coach Michael Hegarty. “I think the matches that did slip away from us were mostly due to inexperience.” There seemed to be no inexperience in the eyes of freshman Audrey Bordeleau on Saturday afternoon. The youngest player on the team rose to the occasion of stiff competition in her three-set win over Kentucky’s Emily Foster. Bordeleau took the first set 6-4, but the game was tied with a 4-6 Foster win in the second set. In the final set, the two players were deadlocked 5-5 in the third before Bordeleau surged ahead to take the set and the match, 7-5. The win gives Bordeleau the fifth win of her young Lady’Back career and advances her to the finals of her flight. Bordeleau faces William and Mary’s Kristen Dunbar in the green singles flight finals on Sunday. Junior Vlatka Jovanovic pulled an upset over Illinois’ Cynthya Goulet, ranked 110th in the country in preseason polls, in straight sets Saturday. Jovanovic rolled to victory, 6-3, 6-4, over her nationally-ranked foe for her sixth singles this fall. With the win, Jovanovic competes in the match for fifth place in the blue singles flight on Sunday. “It was nice to see Audrey advance to the finals and Vlatka’s win was just huge,” said Hegarty. Freshman Maryori Franco picked up the last of the three Lady’Back wins on Saturday with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Louisville’s Kelly Tayor. Franco competes for ninth place in the blue singles flight on Sunday against William and Mary’s Lena Sherbakov. Yawna Allen fell to Illinois’ Emily Wang in a three-set battle. Wang took the first set 6-3, but Allen fought back to win the second set 6-3. It was all Wang in the third, taking the match 6-3. Ohio State’s Lindsay Bryan defeated Arkansas senior Iliana Pacheco in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. Junior Melissa Cornett fought hard in the first set, but it was not enough to edge Louisville’s Robyn White, who took the match 7-5, 6-2. Allie Linden was defeated in three sets by Marshall’s Alizee Paradis. Linden took the first set, 6-2, but lost the second, 6-4. Paradislooped her way to victory in the third set, winning 6-1. Junior Karina Ledaja fell in straight sets to Kentucky’s Kim Coventry, 6-4, 6-4 Several Lady’Back doubles teams were able to play two matches on Saturday after garnering victories in the first match on Saturday. Freshmen Allen and Franco won in a hard-fought match against Illinois’ Brianna Knue and Macall Hawkins. The match went to a tiebreaker, which was won by the young Arkansas team 7-5 to take the match 9-8. The victory advanced the Lady’Back duo to the white doubles flight title match against Kentucky’s Joelle Schwenk and Kim Coventry. In the title match, Arkansas put forth the effort, but came up short against the experienced Kentucky team, losing 8-4. Cornett and Jovanovic defeated OSU’s Lindsey Adams and Caitlen O’Keefe in their first match of the day, 8-6. In their second match for fifth place in the blue double flight, the Lady’Back tandem was shut down by Illinois’ Goulet and Wang, 8-2. Linden and Pacheco won their first match together in an 8-6 effort over Marshall’s Lillie Nzudie and Jeanne Schwartz. In their second match for fifth place in the red doubles flight, the Lady Razorback team fell just short to the experienced team of OSU’s Kristin Messmer and Sonia Ruzimovsky, 8-5. Bordeleau and Ledaja fell to a competitive UK team of Emily Foster and Liis Sober, 8-6. The UK Fall Classic concludes tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.ladybacks.com.Results for day two of the UK Fall ClassicSaturday, October 2, 2004SinglesEmily Wang def. Yawna Allen (UA) – 6-3, 3-6, 6-3Kim Coventry (UK) def. Karina Ledaja (UA) – 6-4, 6-4Robyn White (UL) def. Melissa Cornett (UA) – 7-5, 6-2Audrey Bordeleau (UA) def. Emily Foster (UK) – 6-4, 4-6, 7-5Alizee Paradis (MU) def. Allie Linden (UA) – 2-6, 6-4, 2-6Lindsay Bryan (OSU) def. Iliana Pacheco (UA) – 6-3, 6-1Vlatka Jovanovic (UA) def. Cynthya Goulet (UI) – 6-3, 6-4Maryori Franco (UA) def. Kelly Taylor (UL) 6-0, 6-0DoublesAllen/Franco (UA) def. Harkins/Knue (UI) – 9-8 (5) E. Foster/Sober (UK) def. Bordeleau/Ledaja (UA) – 8-6Cornett/Jovanovic (UA) def. Adams/O’Keefe (OSU) – 8-6Linden/Pacheco (UA) def. Nzudie/Schwartz (MU) – 8-6Coventry/Schwenk (UK) def. Allen/Franco (UA) – 8-4Goulet/Wang (UI) def. Cornett/Jovanovic (UA) – 8-2Messmer/Ruzimovsky (OSU) def. Linden/Pacheco (UA) – 8-5