ACU's run ends in semis
5/15/2009 11:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- The finest ACU women's tennis season in more than 10 years came to an end Friday afternoon with a 5-2 loss to No. 2-ranked Lynn (Fla.) in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II national tournament at Sanlando Park.
Lynn will take on defending national champion Armstrong Atlantic (Ga.) in Saturday's championship match, a replay of the 2008 title match.
Earlier in the day, ACU knocked off Concordia (N.Y.), 5-0, in a quarterfinal match that had to be finished at 7 a.m. after lightning delays on Thursday forced the postponement of the match. That win sent the sixht-ranked Wildcats into the national semifinals for the first time since 1996 when they reached the national championship match.
Waiting for them in the semifinals was Lynn, which had beaten top-ranked and defending national champion BYU-Hawaii, 5-3, in the quarterfinals.
The Wildcats took an early advantage in the semifinal against Lynn, winning two of three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead.
ACU's No. 1 team of Irene Squillaci and Jaclyn Walker -- ranked No. 10 in the nation -- knocked off Lynn's No. 1 team of Katerina Jiskrova and Eleonora Iannozzi (ranked No. 5), 9-8 (7-5) to win at No. 1. ACU's No. 2 team of Sarah Drummond and Dina Pavlin rallied from a 7-5 deficit to beat Magdalena Ekert and Alisson Siaci, 9-7.
But that would be the last hurrah for the Wildcats, who lost four singles matches to lose the match.
Rallying to start singles, the Fighting Knights came out blazing and took each of the first six sets. Tessie Salame evened the score with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Natalie Friend in the sixth position before Jessica Yanoff put Lynn ahead for good at 3-2 in the fourth spot with a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Cassie Carver.
Closing out the match, Iannozzi defeated Walker 6-4, 6-2 in the third slot while Ekert sealed the trip to the finals in the second flight with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Drummond.
"A lot of people looked at this season as a rebuilding year for us," ACU head coach Hutton Jones said of his team, which finished the season at 27-6. "But I said at the beginning of the year that I thought we had a chance to be as good as we've ever been.
"I'm really proud of the way we played throughout the year," he said. "We had a lot of girls in the middle of our lineup raise their level of play, and that's what allowed us to have this special season. It was a great run and a lot of fun. I thought we really had a chance (Friday) against Lynn, and we played well. But it wasn't good enough."
Earlier Friday, the Wildcats finished off Concordia (N.Y.) with two singles wins. ACU had taken a 3-0 lead after Thursday's doubles action, but the match was postponed to a Friday morning finish because of severe lightning in the area.
ACU wasted little time finishing off Concordia as Carver beat Tita Kiss, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 4, and Dina Pavlin knocked off Maria Ortiz, 6-0, 6-1, in the No. 5 spot.
NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals
#6 Abilene Christian 5, #48 Concordia (N.Y.) 0
Singles
Cassie Carver, ACU, def. Tita Kiss, CU, 6-0, 6-1
Dina Pavlin, ACU, def. Maria Ortiz, CU, 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
Irene Squillaci-Jaclyn Walker, ACU, def. Somadi Drucker-Celise Sesanker, CU, 8-0
Dina Pavlin-Sarah Drummond, ACU, def. Maria Ortiz-Cristina Oliveira, CU, 8-3
Lauren White-Cassie Carver, ACU, def. Adeline Brenna-Tita Kiss, CU, 8-2
Semifinals
#2 Lynn 5, #6 Abilene Christian 6
Singles
Magdalena Ekert, LU, def. Sarah Drummond, ACU, 6-0, 6-3
Eleonora Iannozzi, LU, def. Jaclyn Walker, ACU, 6-4, 6-2
Jessica Yanoff, LU, def. Cassie Carver, ACU, 6-1, 6-2
Tessie Salame, LU, def. Natalie Friend, ACU, 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
Irene Squillaci-Jaclyn Walker, ACU, def. Katerina Jiskrova-Eleonora Iannozzi, LU, 9-8
Sarah Drummond-Dina Pavlin, ACU, def. Magdalena Ekert-Alisson Siaci, LU, 9-7
Jessica Yanoff-Tessie Salame, LU, def. Lauren White-Cassie Carver, ACU, 8-0
