By Craig Sanders
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The weather wasn't typical Arizona sunshine, but that didn't stop the UA women's tennis team from tuning up for season play this weekend in the Arizona State Invitational.
"It was a chance to watch the freshmen play for the first time," head coach Becky Bell said. "It was a good opportunity to get matches in before season play begins in January. I wanted to get some matches in so that I could see some of the players in action. I was happy with all of our players."
UA freshman Vicky Mase reached the semifinals in the first college tennis tournament of her career. Mase defeated third-seeded Joella Schad of ASU in three hard-fought sets 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals. There she faced sixth-seeded Ann Pastor of Texas, who knocked Mase from the tournament in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
"Vicky is an extraordinary talent, I think she has the potential to be a great player in college tennis," Bell said. "She was excellent. I was very happy with her performance."
The invitational invited teams from all over the country, including Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, Pacific, UNLV, Purdue, Cal, Tennessee and Northwestern.
In the first round, played on Friday, Allison Grace defeated Purdue's Hally Cohen 6-3, 6-3; Melody Falco topped Purdue's Mary Beth Maggart 7-5, 6-4; and freshman Vicky Mase defeated Cal's Keirsten Alley 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. The second day of action found Grace losing to Cal's Pastor 6-4, 6-1 and Falco falling to Tennessee's Vallin 6-4, 7-6.
In doubles, Miringoff and Falco were eliminated in the first round by Cal's Elliott and Ando 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Grace and Mase advanced to the second round before losing to the Texas team of Moros and Ludvigova 6-1, 6-0. Senior Allison Grace withdrew from the invitational due to back problems.
The Wildcats' next stop is the ITA All-American Championships this week. The tournament is being held from October 20-23. Arizona is sending its top doubles pair of senior Angela Bernal and sophomore Stephanie Sammaritano, who reached the third round of the national Clay Court Championships two weeks ago.