University of Washington
St Mary's Invitational
Samantha Smith Takes `White' Flight With Shutout
October 12, 2008 | Women's Tennis
Oct. 12, 2008
MORAGA, Calif. - Samantha Smith ended her first collegiate tournament the same way she started it, with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking to win the White Singles Draw at the SMC Invitational. The freshman did not drop a set in five matches over the three-day tourney, hosted by St. Mary's at the Korth Tennis Complex.
The tournament featured three singles flights--the White draw being No. 2. In the semifinals, Smith, a Los Angeles native, faced her first challenging set but came through against Marah Calvo of St. Mary's by a 7-6 (8), 6-2 count. Later in the day Smith faced Ashley Pane of Santa Clara and refused to concede a single game, winning 6-0, 6-0, just as she did in her first round match on Friday.
It was an all-purple affair for the Red bracket consolation title. Junior Joyce Ardies and sophomore Lina Xu both lost just three games apiece in semifinal wins over two women from Nevada, to advance to meet each other in the final. Ardies defeated Florence DeVrye, 6-3, 6-0, and Xu topped Caroline Stevens, 6-2, 6-1. In the final, Ardies took the first set against her new teammate, 6-4, before Xu responded with a 6-3 second set win. The two played a super-tiebreak for the third set, and Ardies won out, 10 points to seven.
"We were very proud and excited about Samantha Smith's performance over the weekend," said head coach Jill Hultquist. "She showed great tenacity in all her matches and was very successful in winning the White Singles Flight. Having an all Husky final in the consolation of the Red Singles Flight was great as well with the newcomer Lina falling to Joyce. It was a very competitive match."
Sunday featured a slate of round robin matches for players from the Red and White draws, and the Huskies went 2-2 in their singles matches. Freshman Denise Dy was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Klaudia Wlodarczyk of Boise State. Sophomore Aleksandra Krsljanin also had a straight-sets win, 6-2, 6-2, over Madeline Parker of Gonzaga. Cal's Stephany Chang defeated junior Aleksandra Malovic, 6-3, 7-5, and Sabina Gunanrson of St. Mary's overcame sophomore Vanja Radunovic, 6-1, 6-3.
Washington's next test will be next weekend at the ITA Regional tournament, hosted by Stanford. The tournament runs from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20.
Washington Women's Tennis
SMC Invitational
10/12/08 - St. Mary's College
Korth Tennis Complex
Red Singles Draw Consolation - Semifinals
Joyce Ardies (UW) def. Florence DeVrye (Nev), 6-3, 6-0
Lina Xu (UW) def. Caroline Stevens (Nev), 6-2, 6-1
Red Singles Draw Consolation - Finals
Joyce Ardies (UW) def. Lina Xu (UW), 6-4, 3-6, (10-7)
White Singles Draw - Semifinals
Samantha Smith (UW) def. Marah Calvo (SMC), 7-6 (8), 6-2
White Singles Draw - Finals
Samantha Smith (UW) def. Ashley Pane (SCU), 6-0, 6-0
Sunday Singles Round Robin
Denise Dy (UW) def. Klaudia Wlodarczyk (BSU), 6-1, 6-2
Aleksandra Krsljanin (UW) def. Madeline Parker (Gonz), 6-2, 6-2
Stephany Chang (Cal) def. Aleksandra Malovic (UW), 6-3, 7-5
Sabina Gunnarson (SMC) def. Vanja Radunovic (UW), 6-1, 6-3
