Upstate Has Solid First Day At ETSU Fall Challenge
9/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 20, 2008
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Senior Anna Novo (Caracas, Venezuela/El-Angel) once again led the USC Upstate tennis teams at the ETSU Fall Challenge, reaching the finals of the Women's Gold bracket and reaching the semifinals of the A1 doubles bracket with sophomore partner Emilia Milovanovic (Paris, France/CNED), leading a contingent of six Upstate players on Friday at both East Tennessee State and Milligan College. Milovanovic is also in the finals of her second-flighted singles bracket.
Novo, playing in the top-seeded Gold bracket, downed Western Carolina's Sarah Brinkley, 6-0, 1-0, retired, in the quarterfinals and then added a 6-3, 7-5 win over Mia Drobnjak. The wins give her 68 singles wins in her career, just five shy of the school record for singles wins set by Diana Martinez from 2003-07.
In doubles play, Novo and Milovanovic started the day with an 8-3 win in the quarterfinals against Appalachian State's Olivia Stannard and Blakeley Bean.
Novo will face Radford's Petra Drajevic in the finals of the Gold bracket on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the ETSU Tennis Complex. In doubles play, Novo and Milovanovic face Radford's Ivana Tomaic and Mirna Matic at 8:00 a.m. with the winner advancing to a 9:15 a.m. championship doubles match.
Milovanovic had a good day of her own, as she won her opening match against Carson-Newman's Amanda Bartlett, 6-4, 4-6 (10-8) in the Blue bracket quarterfinals. She then defeated ETSU's Vita Moskaliova in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-2 to lead to her first appearance in a collegiate tournament championship. She faces Radford's Ivana Tomaic in the Blue bracket title match at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday at the ETSU Complex.
Three men's players also competed on Saturday, with sophomore Nico Ospina (Bogota, Colombia/S.E. de Manizales), senior Leandro Osorio (Quillota, Chile/Subercaseaux) and junior Arnaldo Lovera (Caracas, Venezuela) each won their opening round match to move on to the semifinals while the doubles team of Ospina and Osorio made it to the finals of the `A' bracket.
Osorio, playing in the men's top-flighted Gold bracket, defeated Tusculum's Thomas Rees, 4-6, 6-1 (10-5) in the super-set tiebreaker to move on to the semifinals, which will be played on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Ospina, playing in the same bracket, defeated UNC Asheville's Jonas Brobeck, 6-2, 6-2, and will move onto the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. Lovera, playing in the Blue bracket won his opening round match, 7-5, 6-3 against Carson-Newman's Giuseppe Scwarz and will also play in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Osorio and Ospina began the day with an 8-3 win over Jonsson and George followed by an 8-2 win in the semifinals to move into Sunday's finals at 8:00 a.m.
Senior Vivian Neuenschwander (Arequipa, Peru/Max-Uhle) won her first round match in the Brown Bracket against Carson-Newman's Taryn Cappadona, but fell in the semifinals and will compete in the third-place match on Sunday.
