Women's Tennis Opens Season at Cornell Winter Invitational :: Rukavyshnykova took home the consolation titles in singles and doubles

Jan. 28, 2008

ITHACHA (N.Y) - Junior Dina Senkina and sophomore Anastasiia Rukavyshnykova were the top performers as the Temple women's tennis team opened its spring campaign at the Cornell Winter Invitational over the weekend.

Senkina was the runner-up in Flight A singles, winning her first three matches before falling to Sinziana Chis (Cornell) 6-3,6-4 in the final. She defeated Binghamton's Lauren Bates 6-3, 6-3 , Bucknell's Tania Valera 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 and teammate sophomore Christie Clermont (due to injury) in route to the title match.

Rukavyshnykova took home the Flight B singles consolation crown. She dropped her first match to Army's Kristin Beelher, but rebounded to win two consecutive matches to reach the title game. She then defeated Army's Carah Giles-Madden 7-6, 6-2 to take home the title.

I was pleased with the overall results," said first year coach Jill Breslin. "Most importantly, the tournament was a good opportunity for the team to get a lot of practice and match play to prepare for our first dual match".

The rest of the Cherry and White individual players also played well at Cornell. Every member of the team that entered singles play won at least one match. Christie Clermont finished 2-1 in Flight A singles, falling to teammate Senkina. Freshmen Josephine Bergman went 2-1 in Flight C singles, falling to Army's Paige Ford in the finals 6-2, 6-2.

In doubles action, the pair of Bergman and Rukavyshnykova won the Flight B Doubles consolation title, defeating the Binghamton pair of Balasundar/Shapiro 8-2. Senkina and sophomore Elyse Steiner won one match in Flight A doubles.

The Owls are back in action on Wednesday, when they travel to Princeton for their first dual meet of the season. Play begins at 4:00 p.m.