Full Results
Flushing, N.Y. – The Long Island University women's tennis team took part in the USTA Invitational at the USTA Tennis Center in Flushing, struggling on the opening day of action. Six Blackbirds dropped their opening-round singles matches and Long Island's doubles duos also went winless.
In the B Singles flight, sophomore Linn Sjogren fell in the round of 16 to Penn's Alexa Ely, 6-1; 6-3. Brown's Maxine Thomas downed junior Zelie Pfeiffer fell in the C flight, 6-1; 6-1. Sophomore Aleksandra Pavlovic was knocked off by Dartmouth's Rachel Decker-Sadowski, 6-1; 6-4, in the D flight.
In round of 16 action in the E Singles flight, top-seeded Chloe Smith from North Carolina State dealt sophomore Taysha Blessington a 6-1; 6-0 loss. Senior Dara Lahens was felled by Army's Annie Hang, 6-3; 7-6 (5); 10-8 in the F Singles flight and freshman Fatima Ouattara lost to Cornell's ElizabethKaufman, 6-1; 6-4.
In doubles play, Blessington and Sjogren dropped an opening-round B flight match to Fairleigh Dickinson's Egzona Morina and Julia Prantl, 8-4, before falling in a consolation match to St. John's Diamond Adams and Nakita Austin by the same score. In the C flight, Lahens and Pavlovic lost to Seton Hall's Rocio Portela and Pui Wing Sher, 8-2, in the round of 16 before suffering an 8-0 consolation loss to Columbia's Natasha Makarova and Bianca Sanon. Ouatarra and Pfeiffer were defeated in the D Doubles flight by Michelle Green and Leonora Slatnick of Rutgers, 8-6, before falling in consolation play to Seton Hall's Karina Cordero and Elizabeth Verow, 8-4.
Long Island played several consolation matches on the second day of action, with a lone win coming in the process. Lahens and Pavlovic downed Fairleigh Dickinson's Dzana Ferhatbegovic and Manuela Leme, 8-5. Binghamton's Lauren Bates and Emma Leibowicz defeated Blessington and Sjogren, 8-2.
In singles consolation play, Sjogren lost to Cornell's Sinzy Chis, 6-3; 6-1 before withdrawing from her final match of the tournament. Pfeiffer was slated to square off against Boston College's Veronica Corning, but Corning withdrew. Pfeiffer then lost to Penn's Jaime Yapp-Shing, 6-4; 6-1. Fairfield's Sharissa Ryan beat Pavlovic, 6-0; 6-1, and Pavlovic withdrew from her last match. Army's Margaret Iliev dealt Blessington a 3-6; 6-1; 10-6 loss. Blessington then suffered a 6-0; 6-2 defeat at the hands of Fairfield's Caroline Emhardt. Ouattara fell to Army's Jurelle Mendoza, 6-3; 6-1, before sitting out her last match. Lahens fell to Rutgers' Morgan Ivey, 4-6; 6-1; 10-3, before suffering a 6-3; 6-1 loss to Fairfield's Alyssa Ruiz.
Long Island will return to play on Friday Oct. 22 at the ITA Regional Championships.