FORT COLLINS, Colo. – South Dakota women's tennis team competed for the third straight weekend this fall and battled hard at the Jon Messick Invite hosted by Colorado State University.
It was the second trip to Colorado in the three weeks, sandwiched around a trip to Minneapolis, and the Coyotes had seven individuals compete during the three-day event.
"I am very happy with how the team played and competed at CSU this weekend," coach
Brett Barnett said. "This is probably the hardest fall schedule we've ever had. Three tournaments in a row is a brutal stretch, with two trips to high altitude.
"I wanted to make sure we were battle tested for the spring and we've accomplished that."
South Dakota saw four of its six singles players advance to the semifinals of their respective flights while two of the three doubles teams did the same.
Bea Havlickova,
Sorcha Caves,
Grace Chadick and
Katarina Curcic all won their opening singles matches. Both Caves and Curcic ended up 2-1 on the weekend, earning wins in the third-place matches in their flights.
Caves, a sophomore, lost a three-set semifinal battle to Iowa State before bouncing back and defeating an Iowa State opponent in the third-place match.
Curcic, a freshman, posted a straight set win over Air Force Academy and following a loss to Wyoming, defeated another Air Force opponent in a three-set battle.
The doubles team of
Selena Bird and
Anna Medvyedyeva posted a 3-2 overall mark over the three-days with wins over Air Force, Colorado State and a combined Iowa State/Oregon duo.
Havlickova and Chadick teamed to win a pair of doubles matches on day one, defeating a Utah State duo 6-3 and an Iowa State duo 6-4. The two seniors are now 7-3 in doubles matches this fall.
"We had some great results this trip," said Barnett. "Bea and Grace had a great first day in doubles going 2-0.
"Anna and Selena had a great tournament beating a couple Mountain west teams before losing in the final."
Havlickova, a senior, posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over Oregon's Karin Young in Flight A before pushing Iowa State's Anna Kuearum to three sets in the semifinals.
"Bea had a huge first round win against Oregon's top player and took Iowa States #1 who was ranked most of last year to three sets," added Barnet. "Sorcha had a great event taking third. Very good win over Wyoming before losing to Iowa State in three.
"She rebounded so well and played maybe her most complete match as a Yote beating a huge hitter from Iowa State in two sets."
South Dakota will get a weekend off before closing out the fall season by competing in the ITA regionals in Memphis on Oct. 9-12.
"This team competes so well and has seen they belong with and can beat anyone," said Barnett. "We get a well-earned week with no tournament before I take a couple of players to regionals in Memphis."
