Feb. 16, 2009
Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific women's tennis team earned a hard fought win over the San Francisco Dons, 6-1, at the West Lane InShape indoor courts on Monday, Feb. 16.
Pacific gained an overall record of 4-3 with the win as USF fell to 3-2 overall.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by taking the doubles point. Pacific senior Jolanta Twarowska (Hamburg, Germany) and junior Sasha Fisher (Southampton, Bermuda) had the first doubles victory defeating San Francisco's Mylene Martin and Sarah Oudomvilay in the No. 2 position, 8-4. Then Tiger sophomore Jenifer Widjaja (Sao Roque, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and sophomore Olga Gumenyuk (Kiev, Ukraine) secured the doubles point for the Tigers by winning the No. 1 position, 8-5.
The final doubles match saw junior Svenja Arens (Bensberg, Germany) and sophomore Kateryna Nezhura (Kiev, Ukraine) drop a hard fought match in the doubles No. 3 position to the Dons' Julia Wartenburger and Jessy Mekpoh. The teams' match went all the way to a tiebreaker, where the Dons won, 9-8 (5).
Moving to singles competition, Pacific concurred five of six match points. Widjaja remained perfect at the No. 1 position this season, earning her best victory of the season versus San Francisco's nationally-ranked No. 54 Jennifer-Lee Heinser. Widjaja dropped the first set, 3-6, but came back to defeat Heinser, 6-4, 6-2, in the next two sets. Widjaja's three set victory clinched the team's overall triumph against San Francisco as it gave Pacific a 4-0 at the time.
Before Widjaja's match ended, Nezhura had the first singles point playing in the No. 4 position versus San Francisco's Jessy Mekpoh. Nezhura breezed by Mekpoh in the first set winning, 6-2. However, Mekpoh played harder in the second set as the match went to a tiebreaker that finished with Nezhura on top winning the final set, 7-6 (2).
Pacific's third point of the afternoon came via Arens as she downed Cecilia Gratian, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to allow Widjaja to nab the match clinching points.
By the time Pacific senior Clara Schumacher (Zaragoza, Spain) played San Francisco's Julia Wartenburger in the No. 5 position the Tigers had enough points for the win but the day's excitement was not over. Schumacher was pushed to three sets as she concurred the first, 6-4, then dropped the second, 5-7. The match ended up going to a super tiebreaker where Schumacher finally defeated Wartenburger, 1-0 (11-9).
The Tigers will be back in action Friday, Feb. 20 when they travel to Oklahoma to take on Tulsa at 12 p.m.
Women's Tennis Results
Pacific 6, San Francisco 1
West Lane InShape Indoor Facility
Stockton, Calif.
Doubles: (Pacific wins doubles point, 2-1)
1. Jenifer Widjaja / Olga Gumenyuk (PAC) def. Jennifer-Lee Heinser / Cecilia Gratian (USF), 8-5
2. Jolanta Twarowska / Sasha Fisher (PAC) def. Mylene Martin / Sarah Oudomvilay (USF), 8-4
3. Julia Wartenburger / Jessy Mekpoh (USF) def. Svenja Arens / Kateryna Nezhura (PAC), 9-8 (5)
Order of Finish:
2, 1, 3
Singles:
1. Jenifer Widjaja (PAC) def. #54 Jennifer-Lee Heinser (USF), 3-6,6-4, 6-2
2. Mylene Martin (USF) def. Jolanta Twarowska (PAC), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
3. Svenja Arens (PAC) def. Cecilia Gratian (USF), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
4. Kateryna Nezhura (PAC) def. Jessy Mekpoh (USF), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
5. Clara Schumacher (PAC) def. Julia Wartenburger (USF), 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (9)
6. Olga Gumenyuk (PAC) def. Alana McMahon (USF), 7-5, 7-6 (4)
Order of Finish:
4, 3, 1, 2, 6, 5
