It was an impressive opening weekend for the GW women’s tennis team. The Colonials’ fourth-seeded doubles team of Katarina Stastny and Lindy First won the No. 1 doubles tournament Sunday against the United States Military Academy at Army’s Eastern Collegiate Tennis Tournament in West Point, N.Y.
Stastny and First defeated opponents from the University of Pittsburgh, Lehigh University and Army before winning the tourney in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.
(Stastny and First) dominated their draw and did not drop a set the entire tournament, head coach Jeanne Gengler-Swiacki said.
The tournament featured 18 teams during Friday’s first and quarterfinal rounds, Saturday’s semi-finals and Sunday’s final round.
GW’s No. 1 singles player Tracy Wei (seeded third in women’s No. 1 singles) reached Sunday’s final round playing strong tennis despite a slightly pulled stomach muscle and a sore wrist. But she fell in an intense, three-set match to top seed Ioana Dragan 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
Wei reached the finals by beating opponents from SUNY-Stony Brook and Long Island and Fairfield Universities.
As a whole, the GW tennis team posted respectable performances at the tourney, including newcomer No. 2 singles player Nazli Gencsoy, who reached the semi-final round in her first collegiate match before losing to Massachusetts’ Francesca Mancini. Gencsoy and Mancini have known each other for many years and both played in Europe growing up. Gencsoy was the No. 1 player in Turkey while Mancini was the No. 2 player in Italy.
Susie Coggin (No. 2 seed in women’s No. 3 singles), who defeated opponents from Stony Brook and Army in straight sets before falling 4-6, 3-6 to Massachusetts’ Katie Stammon.
We had a really good opening tournament, Coggin said. A lot of us did really well.
GW’s Lisa Borromeo advanced to the quarterfinal round Friday after defeating Manhattan College’s Shelyn Warner 6-1, 6-3.
The women’s tennis season, which is played primarily in the spring, still has a couple competitions to go in the fall season. GW will look to build on its momentum next weekend at the University of Maryland.
