Novo Leads Spartans Through First Day At Upstate Fall Tournament
9/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 12, 2008
Complete Women's Draws After Friday's Play 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Senior Anna Novo (Caracas, Venezuela/El-Angel) advanced to the semifinals in both the singles `A' draw and the doubles draw with sophomore partner Emilia Milovanovic (Paris, France/CNED) during the opening day of the USC Upstate Fall Tennis Tournament in women's action at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex on Friday.
Novo, who won both the singles and doubles titles at the 2007 tournament, will look to retain the titles on Saturday, when she will face ETSU's Tara Byrne in the singles semifinals at 9 a.m. In doubles play, Novo and Milovanovic will face off with Byrne and Karina Kedzo of ETSU at 2:30 p.m.
Novo cruised in her opening matches, defeating Wofford's Cayley Wtzig, 6-0, 6-4 before teaming with Molovanovic for an 8-1 win over Western Carolina's Layne Arnold and Ainhua Iglesias.
Milovanovic won her opening-round singles match in the `A' draw against Wofford's Sabrina Smyers in three-set fashion, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, but fell in the quarterfinals to Charleston Southern's Brooke Pletcher, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
In the `B' draw, senior Vivian Neuenschwander (Arequipa, Peru/Max-Uhle) also won her season-opening match, 6-4, 6-4 over Charleston Southern's Anne Akhimen before falling in the quarterfinals to Angie Torres of CSU, 7-5, 6-4.
Heavy-fog and early morning rain delayed the start of the tournament for nearly two hours while the courts dried, pushing back the final doubles matches of the day to be played under the lights at the complex.
