Complete Draws
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The LIU Brooklyn women's tennis team continued their fall season this past weekend, taking part in the Columbia Invitational at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center in New York City. The Blackbirds took on some of the top players from the East Coast, including NYC and the Ivy League's best.
LIU had several players advance to the championship matches of their respective draws. Junior Ana Leonte won the Westchester draw, using byes to her advantage. The Basel, Switzerland native had a bye in the first and second rounds, before her semifinal matchup against Mandisa Walle of Hofstra. Leonte won in straight sets, 6-0, 7-5, to advance to take on Whitney Weinberg from Fordham in the finals. Leonte won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.
Senior Malin Leysen also advanced to the finals of her draw. Leysen, playing in the Staten Island draw, opened the event with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ronia Dolabany of Hofstra. She advanced to take on Caitie Sullivan of Columbia, but fell in a three set thriller, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Senior Clemence Krug was also in that draw, and opened with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Hailey Feuer of Hofstra, before falling to eventual champion Sullivan, 6-1, 6-2.
Junior Jennifer Gogova had a first round loss to Sarah Hu of Columbia in the Bronx draw, 6-1, 6-3, but bounced back to win the back draw. She beat Odessa Stork of Hofstra by default, and then had a 7-5, 6-3 win over Katherine Kachkarov of Hofstra. Classmate Sasha Bollweg also had success in the back draw of the Manhattan bracket. Bollweg fell to Lexi Milonovich of Harvard in the first round, 6-1, 6-2, but defeated Jasmine King of Hofstra, 6-2, 6-3 in the consolations.
In the Brooklyn draw, senior Anna Grigoryan had a first round win, beating Ariana Talyenko of Fordham Friday, 6-3, 6-2, before she fell to Jennifer Kerr from Columbia, 7-5, 6-2. Junior Jessica Brzozowska competed in the Queens draw, and had a first round loss to Kajsa Stegrell, 6-1, 6-0. Then, in the back draw, she fell to Sarah Catherine Herndon of Hofstra, 3-6, 6-2, 11-9.
The Blackbirds also had success in the doubles brackets. After two byes, the duo of Gogova and Leysen had an 8-5 win over Columbia's Rhaman and Williams to advance to the championship. There, with Grigoryan stepping in for Gogova, the LIU duo won, beating Columbia's Ren and Sullivan, 8-7 (4).
In the B bracket, Bollweg and Brzozowska had a first round loss, 8-4, to a duo from St. John's, but they bounced back to win two in the consolation bracket. The pair beat Feuer and Kaplan from Hofstra, 8-4, and then took on Ruffini and Kachkarov from Hofstra, winning, 6-2. In the A bracket, Leonte and Grigoryan paired up for two defeats. In the first round, they fell to Kerr and Hu from host Columbia, 8-2, before falling in the back draw to Livianu and Genkova from St. John's, 8-3.