Falcons Off to Successful Start in '13-14

Friday, September 20

Bowling Green, OH

9:00 AM

Bowling Green State University

BGSU Invitational

September 20, 2013 | Women's Tennis

Team posts 12-5 record in first-day action at BGSU Invitational

By: BOWLING GREEN/PERRYSBURG, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Harley Hutchison and Emily Reuland - Friday morning Sept 20 - mjc

The Bowling Green State University tennis team got the 2013-14 season off to a successful start Friday (Sept. 20), posting a combined 12-5 record in first-day action at the Falcons' own BGSU Invitational. Friday's play wound up being held at three different venues in Northwest Ohio.

BGSU INVITATIONAL RESULTS - PDF
FRIDAY PHOTO GALLERY

No team scores are being kept at the two-day, six-team event, but flight champions will be crowned in each of five singles and four doubles flights. Friday's matches were split between Keefe Courts on the BGSU campus and Bowling Green High School. When rain hit the Bowling Green area at approximately 5:00 p.m. ET, the remaining matches were moved indoors to the Perrysburg Tennis Center.

Two Falcons, sophomore Katie Brozovich and freshman Harley Hutchison, each went a perfect 3-0 on Friday, winning two singles and one doubles match apiece. Brozovich won a pair of matches at the second singles flight, and teamed up with freshman Hannah Drayton for a first-round doubles win at the number-two doubles flight.

Hutchison picked up a pair of singles victories at the fourth-flight, and combined with senior Emily Reuland for a first-round win at the second level in doubles.

Brozovich, Hutchison and senior Nikki Chiricosta all will play for a singles flight championship on Saturday. While Brozovich and Hutchison advanced to the final at the second and fourth flights, respectively, Chiricosta rolled past two opponents in straight sets at the top flight on Friday.

All seven Falcons won at least one match on Friday. The Falcons' combined 10-4 singles mark included undefeated records against four of the other five schools in the field. BGSU was a perfect 4-0 vs. Toledo in singles, and the Falcons won one doubles match vs. the Rockets for a 5-0 day against the arch-rivals.

BGSU singles competitors also combined for a 3-0 mark vs. Duquesne and a 2-0 record against Detroit. The Falcons played just one singles match against IPFW, picking up a win. Cincinnati dealt BGSU all four Friday singles losses.

At the top singles flight, Chiricosta dispatched Detroit's Irina Slizovskaya and UT's Katelyn Nguyen, losing only eight total games in her four sets. The BG senior will meet UC's Ashleigh Witte in Saturday's championship match.

The number-two flight saw Brozovich top UDM's Raina Halabi in straight sets before winning a three-set match against UT's Emily Mazzola. Brozovich will face Cincinnati's Kelly Poggensee-Wei in the flight championship on Saturday.

Reuland split a pair of matches at the second flight, losing a three-set decision to Poggensee-Wei, but bouncing back for a straight-sets win against Duquesne's Sarah Shashura.

The first-round loss was Reuland's first-ever setback in the BGSU Invitational. Entering Saturday's matches, the senior has an overall record of 20-1 in the Falcons' tournament.

For her part, Chiricosta has an overall mark of 18-3 in matches at the BGSU Invitational through the years.

On the first day of her senior season, Chiricosta moved up on a pair of career lists. With two singles victories on Friday, she now has 79 in her career, moving her into a tie for third place. Chiricosta now has 151 overall career wins, and ranks fourth in BGSU history on that chart.

Reuland, with two overall wins on Friday, is 13th on the BG combined career wins list, with 136 victories as a Falcon.

Just one year and one day into her BGSU career, Brozovich already has 31 singles wins as a Falcon. Her total of 29 singles wins last season was just one shy of the school record. Brozovich needs 14 more singles victories to move into the top 30 on the BGSU career list.

On Friday, sophomore Drew Fillis breezed past Duquesne's Spencer Caravaggio in first-round action at the third flight, losing a total of just three games. UC's Katya Bure, however, rebounded from a first-set loss to defeat Fillis in the second round.

Hutchison's wins at the fourth flight came against UT's Kayleigh Hall and IPFW's Marcy Huck. Hutchison and Hall played three very lopsided sets, with Hutchison blanking Hall, 6-0, in the opening set, but the Rocket freshman posting a 6-1 victory in the second set. The first-year Falcon, however, bounced back with a 6-1 win of her own in the deciding set.

Beginning with that third set, Hutchison dropped a total of just four games in her final three Friday sets. When play moved to the PTC, Hutchison downed Huck by scores of 6-2 and 6-1.

Drayton and fellow freshman Brittany Plaszewski each split a pair of matches at the fifth singles flight on Friday. Drayton bounced back from a loss to UC's Hannah Wille with a straight-sets victory over Duquesne's Alrissa Tobe.

Plaszewski topped Toledo's Lexy Pitt in two narrow sets in her first-ever collegiate singles match, before falling to UC's Sierra Sullivan in a three-set, second-round contest.

In Friday morning's doubles action, Chiricosta and Fillis lost to a Detroit duo at the top flight, but BGSU's other two tandems emerged victorious at the second flight. Reuland and Hutchison won an 8-4 decision over a Duquesne team, while the Brozovich/Drayton team defeated their Toledo foes.

Day one of the BGSU Invitational consisted of one round of doubles followed by two rounds of singles. On Saturday, the tourney concludes with two doubles rounds and the final round of singles. Weather permitting, the matches will begin at 9:00 a.m., and will be split between Keefe Courts and Bowling Green H.S.