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Women?s Tennis Has Successful First Day at Warhawk Classic

Women?s Tennis Has Successful First Day at Warhawk Classic

Tennis Oct 08
MONROE, La. – The ULM women's tennis team had four student-athletes earn their way into singles finals on Friday (Oct. 8) during the first day of the Warhawk Classic. Letha Gaigher, Monica Winkel, Ana Burjaili and Taylor Shepherd have reached singles finals while Winkel and Claire Clark also remain alive in the main draw of the doubles competition.

Gaigher and Winkel will face each other in the finals in flight two.

Gaigher survived a three-set first match in which she dropped the first set, ultimately defeating Biljana Miloshevska of Arkansas State, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. In the semifinals, Gaigher bettered Bianca Schultz of Northwestern State, 6-2, 6-2, to reach Saturday's final. Winkel held off Alcorn State's Merilin Tipp in a close first set, 7-6, before taking set two 6-1 to win her first match of the day. She then advanced to the final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jenny Herring of Arkansas State.

Gaigher and Winkel will play at 10:30 a.m., on Saturday morning in the flight two final.

Burjaili had a bye in the first round of singles in flight three before earning a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Alcorn State's Chan Rutherford in the semifinals. Burjaili will meet Menna Kamal of Arkansas State in the flight three final at 10:30 a.m., on Saturday.

Shepherd earned a victory over Tina Moreno of Alcorn State, 6-2, 6-1, in flight four to advance to the final. She will face Tina Ojdanic of Arkansas State in the flight four final at 10:30 a.m., on Saturday.

In flight one singles play, Blankvoort earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Katherine Hoepelman of Alcorn State in the first round. She then fell to Olga Bazhanova of Northwestern State in a tough three-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the semifinals.

 In a matchup of two nationally-ranked players, 101st-ranked Clark fell to 104-ranked Martina Rubesova of Northwestern State, 7-5, 6-4, in the first round of flight one. Clark came back with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory in the flight one back draw over Arielie Buchmann of Alcorn State.

In flight one doubles play, Gaigher and Burjaili dropped a tight 8-6 decision in their opening match against Bazhanova and Schultz of Northwestern State. The Warhawk duo will next play Tipp and Kersten Vanem of Alcorn State in the back draw on Saturday morning. Clark and Winkel received a first round bye in flight one doubles on Friday; they will play Herring and Ceara Howey of Arkansas State in the semifinals on Saturday at 9 a.m.

The Warhawk Classic will conclude tomorrow (Oct. 9) at Heard Stadium, doubles matches will begin at 9 a.m., and singles finals are slated to begin at 10:30 a.m.

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