Oct. 10, 2005
WINTER PARK - Despite several rain delays, the UCF women's tennis team performed well at the C.L. Varner Memorial Invitational on Saturday and Sunday at Rollins College. The Golden Knights won the Flight B singles and took second in the Flight B doubles competition.
Sophomore Anna Yakimchenkova and junior Becky Gordon advanced to the championship round of the Flight B Singles. Yakimchenkova earned a bye in the first round before earning a default win in round two. She then powered her way to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Anna Schmidtman of Nova Southeastern. In the semifinals, she edged Barry's Helen Wisniewski by a score of 4-6, 6-1 (11-9).
Gordon also grabbed a first round bye and followed that with a quick 6-0, 6-2 decision over Florida Southern's Lindsey Willis. She also claimed a 6-2, 6-1 victory of Danielle Mollman of Stetson and a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lauren Cockbill of North Florida en route to the finals.
Gordon and Yakimchenkova elected to not play out the championship match and instead shared the title.
In the Flight B Doubles draw, Yakimchenkova teamed up with freshman Kenza Jawhari. After a first round bye, the duo opened with an 8-3 win over Mollman and Jen Wisnoski of Stetson. The UCF tandem defeated FSC's Weronika Lomacka and Megan Fincham to advance to the finals, where they forfeited when Jawhari was injured.
In Flight A doubles, Gordon paired with junior Megan Hunter as the No. 3 seeded duo. They claimed an 8-1 win in the first round before dropping a 9-8 decision to Soni Bernal and Anastasiya Shevchenko of Rollins in the semis.
As the No. 4 seed in the Flight A draw, UCF senior captain Pamela Fernandez earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory over North Florida's Catalina Castillo before beating Stetson's Marina Levin 7-5, 6-0. She would lose to No. 5 seed Ildiko Csordas of Barry in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-3.
"The team played very well this weekend and I am particularly proud of the improvement they have shown," said UCF head coach Patricia Allison. "I was especially pleased by the performance of Becky and Anna."
The Golden Knights finish the fall season at the Southern Regional Tournament in Athens, Ga. from Oct. 13-16.