Jan. 15, 2011
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The University of Iowa women’s tennis team opened the spring schedule Saturday at the FSU Seminole Invitational. In doubles, the Hawkeyes struggled against a tough Alabama team, falling in all four of their matches. In singles, senior Jessica Young and freshman Jessica Cohen led the Black and Gold by posting 6-4, 0-6, 13-11 and 7-5, 7-5 victories, respectively.
The Crimson Tide’s doubles lineup proved to be too much for the Hawkeyes as McLane/Guarachi downed Lynne Poggensee-Wei and Sonja Molnar 8-4, Clay/Lindsey topped Cohen and Young 8-2, Foehse/MacFarlane defeated Alexis Dorr and Christina Harazin 8-1 and Emery/Welcher posted an 8-3 victory over Cassandra Escobar and Ally Majercik. Alabama is the No. 60 team in the county according to the ITA.
“We ran up against some very good Alabama doubles teams,” said Head Coach Katie Dougherty. “We were outplayed at times and didn’t play offensively enough to beat them at others.”
In singles, Young recorded a 6-4, 0-6, 13-11 win over Florida State’s Katie Rybkova. Young overcame a 9-5 deficit in the third set tiebreaker to beat Rybkova, who is considered the No. 42 player in the country by the ITA. Cohen was also victorious for the Hawkeyes, posting a 7-5, 7-5 win over FSU’s Manon Veldman in her collegiate debut. While Young and Cohen were successful against Seminoles, three other Hawkeyes had different fates against Florida State foes as Molnar fell to Francesca Segarelli 6-1, 6-4, Poggensee-Wei was topped by Ruth Seaborne 6-0, 6-3 and Dorr was defeated by Federica Suess 6-0, 6-6 (9-7). In other singles action, Harazin dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision against Central Florida’s Josephine Haraldson and Escobar fell to Allison Hodges of Central Florida 6-3, 6-4.
“We started slow in singles and dug ourselves some holes,” noted Dougherty. “We competed well across the board but in terms of execution we weren’t where we needed to be. Jessica Young stepped up huge for us today and came up with big shots at critical times.”
Iowa will look to bounce back tomorrow when play continues at the Scott Speicher Center.
Singles:
Francesca Segarelli (FSU) def. Sonja Molnar (Iowa) 6-1, 6-4
Jessica Young (Iowa) def. Katie Rybakova (FSU) 6-4, 0-6,13-11
Ruth Seaborne (FSU) def. Lynne Poggensee-Wei (Iowa) 6-0, 6-3
Federica Suess (FSU) def. Alexis Dorr (Iowa) 6-0, 6-6 (9-7)
Jessica Cohen (Iowa) def. Manon Veldman (FSU) 7-5, 7-5
Josephine Haraldson (UCF) def. Christina Harazin (Iowa) 6-1, 6-1
Allison Hodges (UCF) def. Cassandra Escobar (Iowa) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles:
McLane/Guarachi (Alabama) def. Poggensee-Wei/Molnar (Iowa) 8-4
Clay/ Lindsey (Alabama) def. Cohen/Young (Iowa) 8-2
Foehse/ Macfarlane (Alabama) def. Dorr/ Harazin (Iowa) 8-1
Emery/ Welcher (Alabama) def. Escobar/ Majercik (Iowa) 8-3