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Sept. 26, 2008

The UNI women’s tennis team completed their first day of the Drake Invitational with many solid performances in the singles brackets. Five of the six Panthers who competed in singles matches on Friday started the tournament with a victory.

In the ‘A’ Singles Flight, junior Sampada Kanade defeated Lauren Mastro of Creighton 7-6 (4), 6-2 in her first-round match. Kanade faces Minnesota’s Karina Chirarelli tomorrow in a quarterfinal matchup.

Freshman Jessica Kunzelmann, also competing in the ‘A’ Singles Flight, won her first-round match versus Magdalena Wiecha of Minnesota 4-6, 6-3, 10-8. She will meet Drake’s Veronika Leszayova in her quarterfinal match tomorrow.

Phoebe Walker, a freshman, nearly completed a Panther sweep in their ‘A’ Singles Flight matches but fell short. Morgan Rainey of Drake defeated Walker 7-6 (4), 2-6, 11-9. Walker is set to play Creighton’s Lindsey Erickson tomorrow in a consolation bracket match.

Competing in the ‘B’ Singles Flight, Laia Gonzalez-Garrido only lost one game in her first-round match, defeating South Dakota’s Isabel Nunez 6-0, 6-1. The sophomore will face Tessa Lang of Iowa State tomorrow in a quarterfinal match.

Taynara Moraes dropped only one game in her first-round ‘B’ Singles match as well. The senior defeated Melanie Rockne of South Dakota 6-1, 6-0 and is set to play Drake’s Kari Sloboth tomorrow in the quarterfinals.

In the ‘C’ Singles Flight, sophomore Diana Mendez swept Iowa State’s Amanda Davis 6-0, 6-0. She faces another Cyclone, Bolan Tarkoe, in her quarterfinal match tomorrow.

Talia Jang-Stewart forfeited her opening-round ‘C’ Singles match due to a wrist injury.

In the doubles category, both ‘A’ Flight teams defeated their first-round opponents but then fell to their second-round foes. Walker/Gonzalez defeated Erickson/Nakaoka of Creighton 8-3 while Kanade/Moraes topped Hartman/Short from South Dakota 8-0 in the opening round. In the second round, Walker/Gonzalez fell to Drake’s Leszayova/Plowman 8-6, and Kanade/Moraes lost to Chiarelli/Forsyth of Minnesota 8-3.

The ‘B’ Doubles Flight pair of Kunzelmann/Mendez drew a bye in the first round. They face Aguilera/Rainey of Drake tomorrow in the semifinals of the bracket.

Both quaterfinal and semifinal matches in the singles championship and consolation brackets take place tomorrow at the Drake Invitational. Semifinal doubles matches will also be held on Saturday at the Drake Tennis Center.