Women's tennis starts in N.C.

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by Shay Gilmore

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The Invitational was not a warm-up for the Owls. In fact, it was the toughest tournament in their fall schedule.

The other participants, Duke University, Elon College, the University of Michigan, the University of South Florida, Texas A&M University, the University of Virginia and Wake Forest University, were mostly top-20 teams.

"Overall, I was quite pleased with the tournament we played this weekend at N.C. State," said Head Coach Paul Blankenship.

"Of course, some of our girls played better than others, but I feel that everyone on the team played at least fairly well."

The Owls entered the tournament with a strong line-up, having lost few seniors and adding two impressive freshman.

Experience did not determine the outcome as newcomers Justyna Gudezowska and Jennifer Velasco made it to the semifinals and the finals, respectively as the rest of the team settled for consolation.

Senior Paula Myslivecek and junior Jessica Gagnon represented the team in the Flight "A" Singles.

Both players quickly found themselves in the consolation bracket after first round losses.

Myslivecek lost to Wendy Fix from Duke and Gagnon to Alicia Kerstyn from South Florida.

Fix and Kerstyn ended up playing each other for fourth place, but the Owls didn't fall far behind.

After winning the consolation bracket, Gagnon took home fifth place and Myslivecek finished seventh.

Rice was not quite as successful in the Flight "B" Singles.

Sophomore Erin Talton held on for three sets, but both she and sophomore Vessie Ivanova lost in the first round.

Neither fared well in the consolation round. Ivanova started with a strong first-round win, but ended up in seventh place.

Talton went down in the first round.

The Flight "C" Singles was a bright spot for the Owls.

Velasco made it all the way to the finals of the flight, but lost, earning second place.

After muscling her way through the first three rounds, Velasco was defeated in the finals by Southwest Conference foe Monica Rebolled from Texas A&M.

Although Rice senior Olga Limón lost in the first round of Flight "C," she was successful in the consolation bracket and took seventh place.

Flight "D" singles proved rewarding for freshman Justyna Gudezowska and sophomore walk-on Jane Trinh.

Gudezowska fell in the semifinals to another A&M player and the eventual first-place winner, Anna Strakosova.

She finished the day by defeating Whitney Sharp from Virginia to win third place.

Trinh followed the pattern of first- round losses, but she made the best of the situation by winning consolation.

The doubles teams of Limón-Myslivecek and Gudzowska-Ivanova in Flight "A" and Velasco-Trinh in Flight "B" lost in the first round.

Only the Flight "B" team of Gagnon-Talton made it out of the first round.

It earned second place after being defeated in the finals by the top-seeded team.

The women will travel this weekend to the Harvard Invitational where they will meet up with the University of Wisconsin, Boston College and the University of Colorado.

"The Harvard match is always an enjoyable one; the girls like mixing with the other players whom they know from previous years," said Blankenship. "The Harvard Tournament is never a really high pressure situation, and the girls enjoy doing a little touristing during their stay in Cambridge."

After the Harvard match, the Rice women will have a three-weekend break from match play.

During this time, the team will be looking at recruits for next year.

Of the recruiting process, Blankenship says, "We try to show the potential recruits a good time, but we also don't try to wine or dine them or otherwise try to be something we're not."

The recruits that will look at Rice are some of the strongest Rice has ever seen.

After a great recruiting season last year, the Rice women will indeed be hard-pressed to find equivalent talent on the court.

The 1995 fall season won't be a long and arduous one for the Rice women's tennis team, but it will be one full of experimentation, reorganization and preparation for spring stratification.

With one tournament under their belts, the Rice women are now looking to Harvard for a little doubles play and some wins as well.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 29, 1995 issue.

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