Friday, 09/14/2012

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's tennis team will open the 2012 fall campaign as a split squad with players competing at both the UVa Fall Classic in Charlottesville, Va., and the Duke Fab Four Invitational at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. Both tournament begin on Friday, Sept. 14, and conclude on Sunday, Sept. 16.

Seniors Marlen Mesgarzadeh and Nina Vulovich, junior Sydney Smith and freshmen Leeza Nemchinov and Jackie Lee will play in the 10-team UVa Fall Classic, while senior Anik Cepeda and juniors Hope Johnson, Jeltje Loomans and Maria Belaya take part in the 12-team Fab Four Invite.

Joining the Tribe in the UVa event will be the host Cavaliers, Furman, Marshall, UNC Greensboro, Old Dominion, South Carolina, VCU, Wake Forest and Winthrop. The three-day event will consist of 16-player singles draws and 16-team doubles brackets. Friday's schedule consists of one round of doubles followed by two rounds of singles. Saturday will feature two rounds of doubles followed by one round of singles. Sunday's play will be the final round of doubles followed by the final round of singles. Each day will begin at 9 a.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center and admission is free. Fans attending the tournament can park for free at the Culbreth Garage.

In the A-1 Singles Flight at UVA, the Tribe will have senior Nina Vulovich and Marlen Mesgarzadeh competing. Vulovich will face the No. 4-ranked freshman in the country according to the ITA in Virginia's Julia Elbaba at 10:30 a.m. Depending on the outcome, she will meet either Marshall's Dominika Zaprazna or Darya Yakauleva of VCU in the quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m., or in the consolation draw at 1:15 p.m. Mesgarazdeh opens competition against a Cavalier as well, facing UVA's Caryssa Peretz at 10:30 a.m., before squaring off with either No. 63-ranked Jaklin Alawi of South Carolina or Furman's Amanda Murray in the quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. or the consolation draw at 1:15 p.m.

Freshman Leeza Nemchinov will start off her Tribe career against Virginia's Stephanie Nauta at 11:30 a.m. on Friday in the A-2 Singles Flight. She will face either Winthrop's Yasmine Alkema or Olga Barshchevskaya of VCU at 1:30 p.m. in the consolation draw or 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

Junior Sydney Smith will compete in the B Singles Flight, while freshman Jackie Lee will take part in the Round Robin C Flight. Smith will face Marshall's Kai Broomfield at noon on Friday, before facing either Alex Martin of South Carolina or UNC Greensboro's Dilara Yrtkuran at 2:45 p.m. or 3 p.m. Lee opens her Tribe career against ODU's Juliana Pires at noon on Friday, before meeting Caitlin Cridland of Winthrop at 3 p.m.

In doubles at Virginia, Mezgarzadeh and Nemchinov will team in Flight A, while Vulovich and Smith will create the Tribe doubles team in Flight B. Mesgarzadeh and Nemchinov will meet the Old Dominion duo of Diana Ivanova and Aleksandra Mitrovska at 9 a.m. on Friday. Vulovich and Smith are slated for meet Kelly Sullivan and Jenny Porter of Furman at 9 a.m. on Friday.

The Tribe will be joined in the Duke Fab Four Invite by 10 teams that finished last season ranked among the top 30 nationally. The list of teams competing along with the Tribe includes Duke, Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas A&M, Purdue, Miami (Fla.), Illinois, Yale and Furman. The invite will consist of 16-player singles draws and eight-team doubles brackets. Play will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday with two rounds of doubles followed by one singles round at 2:30 p.m. Doubles will conclude on Saturday at 9 a.m. followed by the second and third rounds of singles competition, starting at 10 a.m. The event will wrap up on Sunday with the final rounds of singles at 10:30 a.m.

In doubles action, juniors Jeltje Loomans and Maria Belaya, who are ranked No. 12 nationally in the preseason doubles standings, will compete in the C Doubles Flight and open with North Carolina's Tessa Lyons and Zoe De Bruycker at 10 a.m. on Friday. They will meet either the Illinois' team of Kopinski and White or the Texas duo of Aeriel Ellis and Noel Scott in the semifinals or consolation draw at 11 a.m.

Juniors Anik Cepeda and Hope Johnson, who finished the 2011 season among the top 45 in the national doubles rankings, will compete in the B Doubles Draw. The Tribe duo will meet the No. 22-ranked Texas A&M team of Cristina Sancu and Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar at 10 a.m. Cepeda and Johnson will then face either the Yale duo of Madeleine Hamilton and Amber Li or Caroline Price and Lauren McHale of North Carolina in the semifinals or consolation draw at 11 a.m.

Loomans will take part in the Blue Singles Flight and will open against Lauren Kline of Furman at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. In the Black singles draw, Johnson will square off with North Carolina's Whitney Kay at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Belaya and Cepeda will both take part in the White Singles Flight. Cepeda faces No. 10-ranked Mary Anne Macfarlane of Alabama, while Belaya faces Noel Scott of Texas. Both matches are at 2:30 p.m.