Sept. 9, 2007
Des Moines, Iowa -
Complete Results
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The Missouri Tigers won just about everything there was to win at this year's Drake Invitational. By the end of the weekend, the Tigers had collected both the A and B flight singles titles, as well as the doubles title. In addition to the main draw flights, the Tigers also collected the A flight singles backdraw, as well as the doubles backdraw. In the A flight championship match, Mizzou true freshman Mallory Weber took the first set from Nebraska's Stephanie Evans 6-1. Following the set, Evans defaulted.
In the doubles championship, Weber collected her second title of the morning with Tiger newcomer Kaitlyn Ritchie. In the doubles finals, they defeated the host Drake Bulldog tandem of Veronika Leszayova (Povazska Republic, Slovak Republic) and senior Irina Kalashnikova (Sochi, Russia), 8-5.
In easily the most exciting match of the day, true freshman Maureen Modesto won the "B" flight singles title in a marathon over Iowa State newcomer Erin Karonis. It took over three hours for Modesto to defeat Karonis 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-4 in a match that featured two distinctly different styles of play. Modesto had won another three hour marathon the day before over Cyclone newcomer Liza Wischer.
The Tigers also claimed the doubles backdraw as Chrissy Svetlic and Raquel Wagner won by default over Nebraska's Stephanie Evans and Abby Buxton. In the semifinals, Svetlic and Wagner had defeated Iowa State's Wischer and Karonis 8-2. In a match that wasn't played, the Tigers claimed the A backdraw singles title as both Kaitlin Dunham and newcomer Sofia Ayala, after dropping their first match, had each won two matches to reach in the finals. Dunham had defeated Irina Kalashnikova (Drake), 6-4, 6-4, and Alyssa Palen (Iowa State) 6-0, 6-0, to reach the finals. Ayala had reached the finals by defeating Iowa State's Chrissy Derouin 6-2, 6-2, and Northern Iowa's Sampada Kanade 6-4, 7-6 (3).
This was a good weekend, and it was great to see Urska" said head coach Blake Starkey, in reference to former player Urska Juric, who is now the head coach at Drake University. "I think we're putting together a good group of girls, and we've got some things to look forward to. But this was one tournament, and like everyone else, we have a lot of things we need to work on. We'll get back to Columbia, tweak some things in practice, and just start getting ready for the next tournament."
The Tigers will fly to the Washington, D.C. area in two weeks for the Maryland Invitational, in College Park, Md.