Women’s tennis looking good

The future of the Georgia College & State University women’s tennis team looks bright after a good showing by three Bobcat freshman at the ITA Regional Tournament held this weekend at Armstrong Atlantic State University.

After having so many questions about whether or not this team will have success with so many freshmen getting into the spotlight so soon in their tennis careers at GC&SU, all questions can now stop. Despite the team’s efforts, GC&SU did not have a player advance to the National
Championship Tournament for the first time since 1996.

Newcomer Annika Persson posted a winning record when she finished the day at 3-1. Persson, from Frolunda, Sweden, opened the tournament Saturday with an impressive 6-0, 6-0 victory over Isabelle Tellkamp, who is from the Mississippi University for Women. Persson then knocked off Augusta State’s Patricia Zurita 6-1, 6-3. She then advanced to her first quarterfinal match as a college player after beating Kennesaw State’s Loraine Rosmuller 6-3, 7-5. Her stretch of wins came to an end when Clayton State’s Nathalia Collantes, who came into the tournament as number fourth seed, beat Persson 6-2, 7-6.

Jodie Lobsiger, another good freshman from Orbe, Switzerland, opened the tournament Saturday with a tough 7-5, 6-1 loss to Clayton State’s Natalia Koulechova. She bounced back in the consolation round and picked up her first collegiate victory after eliminating Columbus State’s Stacy Faurot 6-1, 6-0. After going into the third round with some confidence, Lobsiger meet up with Francis Marion’s Lillian Jamieson. They went back and forth for two straight tie-breaking sets that ended with GC&SU’s Lobsiger being beaten 7-6, 7-6.

Karin Ramstrom, the third freshman from this outstanding class and who is from Kil, Sweden, opened her collegiate career with an impressive win. After falling behind with a first set loss 4-6, in the second set Ramstrom seemed to have a different mind set with a great second set win 7-5. In the third and final set, Ramstrom won 6-4 and was able to put the first match jitters behind her. But in the second round, Ramstrom met up with a tough opponent in Armstrong Atlantic State’s Annamaria Forgacs. Forgacs lost 6-3, 6-0, making Ramstrom’s first college tournament a success.

The three freshmen have things looking up for this team, and to top it off, all of them who have already contributed.

Sophomore Kremena Vassileva lost her first round match to Kennesaw State’s Eva Andrews 6-2, 6-2. In her first round consolation match, Vassileva won the first set 6-4 but could not close the door on UNC Pembroke’s Naomi Ellis, losing in three sets.

In doubles action, Persson and Ramstrom look to be a doubles team of the future, after having an impressive first weekend together. The two girls defeated UNC Pembroke’s Christine Orban and Andrea Vukcevic. With an 8-4 victory, the two seemed to already be in sync with one another. In their second doubles match, the two faced off against the second seeded team of Nathalia Collantes and Jackeline Nieto from Clayton State. Persson and Ramstrom put up a good fight but ended up losing 8-6. Also in doubles action, GC&SU’s Lobsiger and Vassileva lost their first round match to the top seeded team of Zsofia Golopencza and Michael Kratochvilova from Armstrong Atlantic State.

All in all, the new players for the women’s tennis team have some good things going for them right now. By the end of the year, nobody knows the surprises this team could show.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 5 2001. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry