Jan. 31, 2010

ITHACA, N.Y. – Tania Varela (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy) won the Flight A singles draw at the Cornell Invitational on Sunday, tallying four victories in three days to earn her first tournament title of her senior season. The streak gives her a dozen singles wins on the year, giving her possession of the team lead.

Varela’s weekend started smoothly as she closefd out her first two matches in straight sets, defeating Yulia Smirnova of Binghamton (6-4, 6-3) and Aleksandra Petrova of Buffalo (6-4, 6-2). Her next two matches proved more difficult as she battled through some tough three-set matches. In each match, she took the first set off her opponent 6-4 before dropping the second set. The senior then reclaimed control of the match with a 7-5 win in the third on both occasions.

“I was very proud of Tania’s effort this weekend,” said assistant coach Stephen Schram. “She played exceptionally well with a lot of heart and determination.”

Varela defeated Cornell’sf Kristin Lim (6-4, 5-7, 7-5) in the semifinals on Saturday, then closed out her title with a 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory over Buffalo’s Diana Popescu on Sunday.

The rest of the Bison struggled in Ithaca. Dumitrita Iepuras (Chisinau, Moldova/Germantown Friends Academy) was the only player other than Varela to take a set of her opponent in the singles main draws. The sophomore won the first in a tiebreaker to Binghamton’s Lauren Bates, but lost the final two sets 6-2 and 6-2.

Courtney Casey (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Visitation) won a match in the singles back draw, defeating Geraldine Leong of Cornell.

Bucknell was unable to pull out a victory in doubles competition. Iepuras and Daria Tuzhikova (Minsk, Belarus/Gymnasium No. 7) put up the closes fight before falling to Binghamton’s Bates and Jillian Santos 8-5 in the first round of Flight A doubles. Varela and Kirstyn Sotak (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) teamed up in Flight B, but lost 8-4 to lost to Lim and Leah Seyburn of Cornell.

The Bison will leave tournament action and dedicate themselves to dual competition for the remainder of the spring. Next on Bucknell’s schedule is Pittsburgh, slated for Saturday, Feb. 13 on the Orange and Blue’s home courts.

Bucknell Results
Doubles
Flight A:
First Round
Denise Harijanto/Aleksandra Petrova (Buffalo) def. Dara Dwojewski/Carlin Calcaterra (Bucknell), 8-0
Lauren Bates/Jillian Santos (Binghamton) def. Dumitrita Iepuras/Daria Tuzhikova (Bucknell), 8-5

Flight B:
First Round
Leah Seyburn/Kristin Lim (Cornell) def. Tania Varela/Kirstyn Sotak (Bucknell), 8-4
Anna Subenkova/Kira Golenko (Buffalo) def. Courtney Casey/Jennie Ciotti, 8-0

Consolation Rounds
Natalia Sanchez/Susan Sullivan (Cornell) def. Courtney Casey/Jennie Ciotti (Bucknell)
Natalia Sanchez/Susan Sullivan (Cornell) def. Dara Dwojewksi/Carlin Calcaterra (Bucknell), 8-2
Yagmur Gone/Danyelle Shapiro (Binghamton) def. Dumitrita Iepuras/Daria Tuzhikova (Bucknell), 8-4
Diana Popescu/Diana Toia (Buffalo) def. Tania Varela/Kirstyn Sotak (Bucknell)

Singles
Flight A:
First Round
Kristin Lim (Cornell) def. Carlin Calcaterra (Bucknell), 6-4, 6-0
Tania Varela (Bucknell) def. Yulia Smirnova (Binghamton), 6-4, 6-3
Yagmur Gone (Binghamton) def. Dara Dwojewski (Bucknell), 6-4, 6-2
Lauren Bates (Binghamton) def. Dumitrita Iepuras (Bucknell), 6-7, 6-2, 6-2
Quarterfinals
Tania Varela (Bucknell) def. Aleksandra Petrova (Buffalo), 6-4, 6-2
Semifinals
Tania Varela (Bucknell) def. Kristin Lim (Cornell), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5
Finals
Tania Varela (Bucknell) def. Diana Popescu (Buffalo), 6-4, 6-7, 7-5

Flight B:
First Round
Edelman (Binghamton) def. Courtney Casey (Bucknell), 6-1, 6-0
Diana Toia (Buffalo) def. Daria Tuzhikova (Bucknell), 6-4, 6-3
Susan Sullivan (Cornell) def. Jennie Ciotti (Bucknell), 6-0, 6-0
Kira Golenko (Buffalo) def. Kirstyn Sotak (Bucknell), 6-0, 6-3

Consolation Rounds
Courtney Casey (Bucknell) def. Geraldine Leong (Cornell)
Yulia Smirnova (Binghamton) def. Courtney Casey (Bucknell)
Denise Harijanto (Buffalo) def. Dumitrita Iepuras (Bucknell)
Carlin Calcaterra (Bucknell) def. Sarah O’Neil (Cornell)
Denise Harijanto (Buffalo) def. Carlin Calcaterra (Bucknell)
Marina Bykovskaya (Binghamton) def. Dara Dwojewski (Bucknell)
Natalia Sanchez (Cornell) def. Kirstyn Sotak (Bucknell)
Leah Seyburn (Cornell) def. Jennie Ciotti (Bucknell)
Tamara Markovic (Buffalo) def. Daria Tuzhikova (Bucknell)

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