Jacksonville, Fla. ? The Stetson women's tennis team opened its fall season this weekend by competing in the UNF Invitational. The highlight of the weekend for the Hatters was the doubles team of sophomore Jacqueline Faulk (Port Charlotte, Fla.) and junior Daniella Palmiotto (Boca Raton, Fla.) advancing to the C Bracket semifinals.
Faulk and Palmiotto blanked Bethune-Cookman's Chanetra Brown and Reijina Hopkins in the first round and then got to jump past the quarterfinals when their scheduled opponents from Georgia Southern defaulted due to injury. The duo was defeated 8-2 in the semifinals by Leonie Giujt and Gabriella Viega (Troy).
Sophomore Unnati Purushotham (Hyderabad, India) was the only Hatter to win a match in the main draw, defeating Samford's Andrie Meiring in three sets in the first round before falling to Daria Sekerina of South Carolina State in straight sets in Round 2.
The top performance by a Stetson player in consolation play was in the C singles back draw where senior Katherine St. Clair (West Palm Beach, Fla.) got a bye through the first two rounds and took down Middle Tennessee's Anna Djananova 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the quarterfinals. St. Clair was scheduled to face B-CU's Brown in the semifinals when consolation play was canceled due to time constraints.
Stetson's second and final fall tournament will be the ITA South Regional, held Oct. 24-27 in Athens, Ga. and hosted by the University of Georgia.
STETSON RESULTS
A SINGLES
1st Round
Evelin Strijker (UAB) def. Breanna Atkinson 6-4, 6-3
Unnati Purushotham def. Andrie Meiring (Samford) 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-3
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2nd Round
Daria Sekerina (South Carolina State) def. Purushotham 6-3, 6-3
A SINGLES CONSOLATION
1st round bye - Atkinson
2nd round
#3 seed Alyona Tsutskova (FIU) def. Atkinson 6-4, 6-1
B SINGLES
1st Round
Jessica Fuller (Georgia Southern) def. Samantha Lange 6-0, 5-7, 6-2
Jennifer Cape (UAB) def. Natalie Gorham 6-4, 6-2
Maria Pazo (FIU) def. Katherine Nowicki 6-1, 6-1
B SINGLES CONSOLATION
1st Round
Lange bye
Iva Jaresova (Jacksonville) def. Gorham 6-2, 6-0
Nowicki bye
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2nd Round
Lange bye
Elvira Yusupova (Jacksonville) def. Nowicki 2-6, 6-4, 10-3
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Quarterfinals
Lange vs. Jessica Diamond (Samford) unfinished
C SINGLES
1st Round
Iveta Blodniece (South Carolina State) def. Katherine St. Clair 6-1, 6-2
Marlene Chemin (Middle Tennessee) def. Daniella Palmiotto 6-1, 6-3
Christine Caforio (Georgia Southern) def. Jacqueline Faulk 6-2, 6-2
C SINGLES CONSOLATION
1st Round
St. Clair bye
Palmiotto bye
Gabriella Viega (Troy) def. Faulk 6-0, 6-2
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2nd Round
St. Clair bye
Karen Niszl (Samford) def. Palmiotto 6-3, 3-6, 11-9
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Quarterfinals
St. Clair def. Anna Djananova (Middle Tennessee) 7-6 (5), 6-2
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Semifinals
St. Clair vs. Chanetra Brown (Bethune-Cookman) unfinished
A DOUBLES
1st Round
Lindsey Mallory/Morgan Taylor (Samford) def. Atkinson/Nowicki 8-1
B DOUBLES
1st Round
Lange/St. Clair bye
Andrie Meiring/Stephanie Parkison (Samford) def. Gorham/Purushotham 8-2
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2nd Round
Fernanda Carrero/Juliana Umeki (Jacksonville) def. Lange/St. Clair 8-4
C DOUBLES
1st Round
Faulk/Palmiotto def. Chanetra Brown/Reijina Hopkins (Bethune-Cookman) 8-0
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Quarterfinals
Faulk/Palmiotto def. Ali Beavers/Shea Huxtable (Georgia Southern) injury
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Semifinals
Leonie Giujt/Gabriella Viega (Troy) def. Palmiotto/Faulk 8-2
