Oct. 20, 2005
The University of Texas-Pan American men's and women's tennis team will be competing at the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Tournament in College Station, TX, beginning on Friday (Oct. 21), which will include many of the top Division I women's collegiate tennis players in the southwest.
For the men, it will be another opportunity for them to get ready for the Southland Conference Championships that is still in the distant future. The ITA will bring some of the most talented tennis players from Southland Region with the makings a pre-conference championship atmosphere.
Seventeen Wilson/ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men and women are taking place over these last two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country.
The singles finalists and doubles champion from this event will earn spots in the November 3-6 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships hosted by The Ohio State University at the Racquet Club of Columbus.
The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including qualifiers from these Wilson/ITA Regional Championships held across the country, the ITA National Small
"I've been very impressed all season long with their maturity and commitment to competing, and I think that we will do well at College Station," interim coach Jay Colins said.
At the last tournament, it was senior Rehman Esmail (Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada/North Carolina State), who won the singles Consolation Championship over Mike Phillips from Tyler Junior College, 7-5, 6-4. On the following day, Esmail lost his first match against Tyler Junior College's Benedikt Fischer, but then rallied to win his next two matches of the day.
Also showing their stuff were senior Oliver Steil (Brunssum, Netherlands/AF North International School) and his doubles partner newcomer Andrew Bost (Corpus Christi, TX/Carroll H.S.) who lost their first match, but rebounded to defeat teammates Alberto Gomez (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.) and Enrique Montemayor, 8-3, in the Consolation Semifinals. In the finals, the combination of Steil/Bost was just too much for the duo from Tyler Junior College, Serekeberhan/Johnson, as they captured the win, 8-6.
"Oliver and Rehman really stood out with their performances," Colins commented. "They really showed some leadership out on the courts."
Also putting together a respectable performance with a valiant effort was Nik Porter (Tunbridge Wells, England/Bennett Memorial School), who went head to head against Phillips in the consolation semifinals, but was defeated, 6-4 and 6-3. He reached the semifinals by running past Joe Olfindo of UTSA and Tyler Lyon of St. Edwards after a first-round loss to Andre Moreira of UTSA.
Itching to get back into the swing of things are the women, who haven't competed since the beginning of the month. In addition to host Texas A&M, this event features top women's players from 25 Division I schools, including Texas, Baylor, Tulane and TCU, which were all listed in the top 20 of the final 2005 ITA team rankings.
In singles competition, Marie de Bourquerey (Paris, France/Fenelon Sainte Marie) will be taking on the sixth-seeded Kristine Reid of Southern Methodist University in the first round of the tournament. As her teammate Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen) takes on University of Louisiana-Lafayette's 16th-seed Celine Vanweydeveld that same round.
The women's doubles team of Katherine Barto (Laredo, TX/St. Augustine H.S.) and Sheila Mubalac (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg H.S.) will face the eighth-seeded Zuzana Cerna and Klara Zruslova of Baylor. As the duo of Buksik/DeBourquerey take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Amanda Brahim and Veronica Nicholas.
At the Sam Houston State University Bearkat Fall Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 1), it was sophomore Nicole Garcia (Cibolo, TX/Lee College) that capped off the best finish out of the Lady Bronc performers. She placed third in the Fourth Flight, notching a 2-1 record over the two-day tournament.
The UTPA sophomore defeated Bethany Yurkiw of Sam Houston State in the third place match with a straight-set 6-2, 6-2 victory. She won her first match of the tournament over Gabriela Gadeva (Stephen F. Austin), but loss a tough one in the semi-finals to eventual-champion Lauren Janak of Sam Houston State.
Buksik placed fifth in the first flight with a win over Rosa Diaz-Guzman from Tarleton State. The sophomore started the competition rough, as she lost her first round match to Trina Sotnikova of Sam Houston State, but then rebounded on the next match to pull of the victory over Erika Triarte (Texas A&M - Corpus Christi) in the consolation semi-finals.
"Silke really played strong at the Sam Houston Invitational," Colins added.
Senior Elysia Sloan (Duncanville, TX/Duncanville H.S.), Barto and Bourgueney each finished in eighth-place in their respective flights.
"Each of the groups left me really pleased with their overall performances at the UTSA tournament," Colins said.
The first day of competition for the two squads will be on Friday, and then continue throughout the weekend at College Station.
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