NORMAN, Okla. – The Wichita State doubles team of Julia Schiller and Gabriela Porubin earned a runner-up finish in the top draw, and the Shockers' took five of six singles matches on the final day of the Oklahoma Fall Invite.
"On the whole this was a positive weekend. I thought our singles players did a nice job to bounce back from their (Friday) losses and treat every match with equal importance.” WSU head coach Colin Foster said.
WSU's six singles entrants combined to go 18-5 over the three-day tournament (14-3 after the first round).
“That will give us confidence as we head into a challenging fall tournament schedule,” Foster said. “For the newcomers, especially, it was a great opportunity to experience college tennis for the first time, and they all played very well."
Abby Stevens (3-1 to start the year) earned a fifth place finish in the Boomer Draw, a bracket that featured some of the tournament's top players.
After a first round setback in the same draw, Schiller reeled off three straight victories to win the consolation side, taking down Sara Castellano of K-State, 7-6(2), 6-3.
Lucia Kovalova duplicated Schiller's success in the Sooner Draw, working her way back to win the consolation title with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Kansas' Smith Hinton.
Aleksandra Trifunovic remains unbeaten to start her WSU singles career. The junior transfer from Florida International downed Nada Marajanovoc (6-4, 6-3) in the Switzer Bracket semifinal. Due to time constraints, finals were not played in the bracket, but Trifunovic won a bonus match with Denver's Maureen Slattery (6-4, 6-4) to finish the weekend with a 4-0 record.
Luca Pump nearly joined Trifunovic in the Switzer Bracket semifinal. She captured the first set and went to a tiebreaker in the second but couldn't quite finish off Arkansas' Flavia Araujo, who rallied for a 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 victory.
On the doubles side, Schiller and Porubin capped the weekend with a 3-1 record, posting a semifinal win over Texas Tech's team of Jackson and Czarniak (8-2) before losing in the final to K-State's Juhasz and Castellano (8-2).
The doubles team of Kovalova and Pedrazzi fell 8-4 to Abilene Christian's Reed/Walker combo, while Stevens/Trifunovic dropped their own match to ACU's Hermsdorf/Pothier, 8-3.
WSU's Complete Sunday Results:
Doubles:
Schiller/Porubin (WSU) def. Jackson/Czarniak (Texas Tech) 8-2
Juhasz/Castellano (K-State) def. Schiller/Porubin (WSU), 8-2
Reed/Walker (Abilene Christian) def. Kovalova/Pedrazzi, 8-4
Hermsdorf/Pothier (ACU) def. Stevens/Trifunovic, 8-3.
Singles:
Stevens (WSU) def. Galieva (UNT) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
Schiller (WSU) def. Castellano (K-State) 7-6(2), 6-3.
Kovalova (WSU) def. beat Hinton (Kansas) 6-2, 6-0
Araujo (Arkansas) def. Pump (WSU) 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-3
Trifunovic (WSU) def. Marajanovoc (Abilene Christioan) 6-4, 6-3
Trifunovic (WSU) def. Slattery (Denver),6-4, 6-4 (non-bracketed match)
-Wichita State-
