Sept. 29, 2011
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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team will compete Friday through Sunday at the Wildcat Invitational. Northwestern will host the tournament at the Nielson Tennis Center in Winnetka, Ill. Draws have not yet been released.
THE LINE-UP
Cassandra Escobar, Christina Harazin, Ally Majercik, Morven McCulloch, Ellen Silver, Shelby Talcott and Katie Zordani will compete for the Hawkeyes.
THE COMPETITION
In addition to Iowa, the 11-team field includes: DePaul, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.
TALCOTT NAMED BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Shelby Talcott garnered Big Ten Women’s Tennis Player of the Week honors after going 7-1 in her collegiate debut at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 16-18. In singles, the Long Island, N.Y., native won three straight-set decisions, finishing the event with a 3-1 record. Talcott also teamed with senior Sonja Molnar in doubles. The duo posted a 4-0 record and won the Koivu Doubles Flight. Talcott was considered a five-star recruit by TennisRecruiting.net as a senior in high school.
DEJA VU
Senior Sonja Molnar opened her season by winning the top flight singles and doubles bracket for a second consecutive season. Molnar, a Guelph, Ontario, native, swept through the Mauer Singles Flight at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 16-18, winning four straight-set decisions. In doubles, she paired with freshman Shelby Talcott to win the Koivu Doubles Flight after posting a 4-0 record. Molnar opened her junior season in 2010 by going 4-0 in both doubles and singles at the UNI Invite on Sept. 24-26. Molnar won the Platinum Flight Singles bracket and teamed with Lynne Poggensee-Wei to claim the Platinum Flight Doubles bracket at the event.
ON THE BOARD
Freshmen Morven McCulloch, Ellen Silver, Shelby Talcott and Katie Zordani all won their first collegiate match during their Hawkeye debuts at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 16. McCulloch defeated Emma Waites of Iowa State, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 1-0 (10-5), Silver topped UW-Milwaukee’s Kelly Fritz, 6-1, 6-0, Talcott downed Alaina Trgovich of Wisconsin, 6-2, 6-2, and Zordani won a 6-2, 6-1 decision against Wisconsin’s Aleksandra Markovic. The quartet was considered the 25th-best recruiting class in the country by TennisRecriuting.net.
MAKING IT LOOK EASY
As a team, the Hawkeyes posted a 24-5 singles record at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 16-18. Nineteen of the 24 victories were straight-set decisions. Individually, senior Sonja Molnar (Mauer Singles Flight) and freshman Ellen Silver (McNabb Singles Flight) won their singles bracket after posting 4-0 records. All of Molnar and Silver’s victories came in straight sets. Freshman Morven McCulloch also posted an undefeated record, going 3-0. Sophomore Christina Harazin won the McNabb Singles Flight consolation championship after posting a 3-1 record.