April 21, 2006

Results

The fifth-seeded Duquesne University women's tennis team took a 5-0 decision over twelfth-seeded Saint Joseph's Friday afternoon in the opening day's action of the 2006 Atlantic 10 Championship held at Club 4 Life in Monroeville, PA. The Dukes advance to face fourth-seeded Massachusetts Saturday, Apr. 22, at 8:00 am.

The Dukes opened the tourney winning the doubles point as junior Jackie Hughes (McKeesport, Pa.) and freshman Rebecca Poole (Swindon, Wiltshire, UK) won easily 8-1 at first doubles while sophomores Johanna Bezjak (Salisbury, Md.) and Andrea Sailer (Tucson, Ariz.) won 8-3 at second doubles. Freshman Alexandria Albano (East Amherst, N.Y.) and junior Ciara McDermott (Columbus, Ohio) led 7-2 at third doubles. All A-10 championship matches are played to decision.

Poole gave the Dukes a 2-0 lead with straight 6-0, 6-0 sets at third singles before junior Alicia McNamara (Voorhees, N.J.) took a 6-0, 6-2 margin at fifth singles. Bezjak and Hughes finished simultaneously at first and second singles with Bezjak winning 6-0, 6-2 and Hughes taking a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

Sailer led 6-4, 1-0 at fourth singles and freshman Abby Ball (Ebensburg, Pa.) led 6-2, 4-0 at sixth singles.

The winner of tomorrow's match advances to face either first-seeded Richmond or eighth-seeded Temple Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm. The consolation bracket will feature the non-winning squads from Duquesne/UMass and Richmond/Temple at 6:00 pm.