College Tennis News - Yurovsky Advances in NCAA Singles Championship

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Freshman Ronit Yurovsky (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) of the University of Michigan women's tennis team picked up a straight-set victory over No. 124 Nini Lagvilava of Stony Brook in the first round of singles play at the NCAA Individual Championships on Wednesday (May 22) at the Atkins Tennis Center.

Yurovsky and Lagvilava traded early breaks in the first set before getting back on serve at 3-3. The two stayed on serve, with Yurovsky taking a 6-5 lead, sending Lagvilava back to serve to send the set to a tiebreaker. Yurovsky broke her opponent, cashing in on her second break point for the 7-5 first-set win.

The first set win shifted the momentum to Yurovsky, who won the first four games of the second set to take command of match. Lagvilava broke Yurovsky to cut her lead to 4-1, but the Wolverine freshman won the next two games to wrap up the 6-1 victory.

Sophomore Emina Bektas (Indianapolis, Ind./New Braunfels) fell in the first round of the singles tournament for the second straight season, dropping a 7-6 (3), 7-5 decision to No. 26 Katie Le of Santa Clara.

The two were on serve at 2-2 in the first set before trading breaks in the next four games. Bektas held serve to go up 5-4 as the two players stayed on serve the rest of the set to enter a tiebreaker. The Wolverine sophomore served first in the breaker but lost the first point en route to a 7-3 final to give Le the 1-0 lead.

In the second, Bektas raced out to a 3-1 lead, but Le won the next two games to knot the set at 3-3. The two stayed on serve when Le took a 6-5 lead, sending Bektas to the service line for a chance to enter another tiebreaker. Bektas fell behind 30-0 and then 40-15, giving Le two match points. Bektas saved one when Le netted a service return. Le made good on the next point, however, as Bektas sailed a shot wide down the left sideline in a 7-5 loss for the U-M sophomore.

Yurovsky will play again tomorrow (Thursday, May 23, 11 a.m. CDT), taking on Nicole Gibbs of Stanford. Bektas will team up with junior Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan) to play in the doubles tournament tomorrow as well at 4 p.m. CDT.