2008 Woodie Awards
Men sweep weekend, women split
Ron Pauta, Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/2/08Section: Sports
Despite beginning the weekend match-ups with injuries to a couple of St. John's key players, the Red Storm's women's tennis team bounced back with a gutsy effort at Syracuse and at home against NJIT to earn a weekend split.
Saturday's contest against Syracuse began on the right note with St. John's best doubles team of Maria Zivcicova and Ira Aleksova (5-2) taking match No. 1. The Johnnies were not able to keep the tempo flowing, dropping the next two doubles matches to lose the doubles point. In singles, St. John's kept it close but Syracuse prevailed by taking the singles matches at No. 2, 4 and 5 to clinch the game and ultimately win by the score of 4-3.
On Sunday, the Red Storm returned back home to face NJIT. Zivcicova, who has been St. John's top player and has valiantly been played with a nagging hip injury throughout the weekend, teamed up with Aleksova once again to take the first doubles match, 8-4. St. John's Jenny Yonkus and Emily Barnett followed through with a win at doubles match No. 2 to secure the doubles point for St. John's.
Zivcicova led off for the Red Storm in singles, but after going down 1-0 in the match, the discomfort in her hip forced her to retire, surrendering the No. 1 singles point to NJIT. With St. John's second top player Alison Adamski already sidelined for the weekend to nurse an injury, and Zivcicova retiring out of her match, the Red Storm refused to
go down.
The Red Storm's Emily Barnett and Ira Aleksova brilliantly took their respective singles match at No. 2 and 3 in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, and 6-0, 6-0.
After dropping the singles match at No. 4, senior Ashley Harper stepped up for her team and ousted NJIT's Dasa Stanimirovic in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
"There's really not much else in sports that compares to coming through for your team when they're counting on you," Harper said. "It felt really great"
As for the injuries to St. John's top two singles players, coach Allison Davidson expects both Zivcicova and Adamski to recover from their injuries and be ready to play out the few remaining games left in the season. Davidson expressed the importance of the remaining Big East games.
Saturday's contest against Syracuse began on the right note with St. John's best doubles team of Maria Zivcicova and Ira Aleksova (5-2) taking match No. 1. The Johnnies were not able to keep the tempo flowing, dropping the next two doubles matches to lose the doubles point. In singles, St. John's kept it close but Syracuse prevailed by taking the singles matches at No. 2, 4 and 5 to clinch the game and ultimately win by the score of 4-3.
On Sunday, the Red Storm returned back home to face NJIT. Zivcicova, who has been St. John's top player and has valiantly been played with a nagging hip injury throughout the weekend, teamed up with Aleksova once again to take the first doubles match, 8-4. St. John's Jenny Yonkus and Emily Barnett followed through with a win at doubles match No. 2 to secure the doubles point for St. John's.
Zivcicova led off for the Red Storm in singles, but after going down 1-0 in the match, the discomfort in her hip forced her to retire, surrendering the No. 1 singles point to NJIT. With St. John's second top player Alison Adamski already sidelined for the weekend to nurse an injury, and Zivcicova retiring out of her match, the Red Storm refused to
go down.
The Red Storm's Emily Barnett and Ira Aleksova brilliantly took their respective singles match at No. 2 and 3 in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, and 6-0, 6-0.
After dropping the singles match at No. 4, senior Ashley Harper stepped up for her team and ousted NJIT's Dasa Stanimirovic in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
"There's really not much else in sports that compares to coming through for your team when they're counting on you," Harper said. "It felt really great"
As for the injuries to St. John's top two singles players, coach Allison Davidson expects both Zivcicova and Adamski to recover from their injuries and be ready to play out the few remaining games left in the season. Davidson expressed the importance of the remaining Big East games.
Be the first to comment on this story