Friday, October 08, 2010

Valparaiso’s women’s tennis team completed day one of the Kellogg-Hinds Tournament on Friday, and Kristin Zakiewicz (Bristol, Ind./Northridge H.S.) has advanced to the third place match in the third flight of singles.

The freshman earned a quarterfinal win over Amy Unzicker of Western Illinois 7-5, 6-7 (6), 12-10 to begin her day.  Zakiewicz fell in the semifinals 7-5, 6-2 against Katie Hargrove of Lewis, but will play for third place on Saturday morning.

“Kristin lost to Unzicker earlier this season in straight sets at the tournament in River Forest,” head coach Traci Young said.  “For her to battle back today and win that third set tie-breaker shows how much she has already improved this fall.”

Katie Bilyeu (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo H.S.) earned Valpo’s other singles win on day one, with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Shaina Nolley of Roosevelt for her team-leading fourth victory of the fall.  She fell in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-3 to Lauren Aguilar of Wisconsin-Whitewater though, before bowing out of the tournament with a 6-2, 7-5 loss to Abby Martin, also of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“Katie has played good tennis each of the last two weekends for us,” Young added.

In number one singles, Brittany O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./Southwest H.S.) fell 6-1, 6-0 in her first match against Marcela Brandao of Western Illinois before dropping a 6-0, 7-5 decision against Pam Ganer of Quincy.  Her sister Jackie O’Reilly (Green Bay, Wis./DePere H.S.) played in the second flight and fell 6-1, 6-0 against Zso Lanstiak of Lewis as well as 6-0, 6-1 against Leslie Ganer of Quincy.

In the fourth flight, Stephanie York (Elkhart, Ind./Jimtown H.S.) played a pair of close matches before suffering defeat.  She dropped a 6-4, 1-6, 10-6 decision to Taylor Stephens of Olivet Nazarene before losing to Bethany Goeden of South Dakota State 7-6 (0), 3-6, 10-7.

Valparaiso will conclude play in the tournament on Saturday.  Zakiewicz’ singles match begins at 8 a.m. with the doubles competition to follow approximately 9:30 a.m.