Women’s tennis concludes Fall campaign

Clayton State wins Windstream Fall Championship; Barksdale wins consolation title for GCSU

The GCSU women’s tennis team finished up its Fall 2010 season by hosting the Windstream Women’s Fall Championships on Oct. 1-2.

Along with the Bobcats, Clayton State, Carson-Newman, ABAC, the University of Tampa, UNC Pembroke and Brenau competed.

Sophomore Kayla Barksdale led the way for the Bobcats, garnering a consolation title in the Flight A portion of the tournament.

In the consolation round, Barksdale picked up a pair of victories against players from Carson-Newman.

Kendyl Wade | gcsunade.com

Sophomore Kayla Barksdale hits a shot in the Windstream Women’s Fall Championships, which were held Oct. 1 to 2 at the Centennial Center courts. Barksdale won the Flight A consolation singles title

First, she blanked Stefy Stand, 6-0, 6-0. She followed that up by knocking off Kylie Elliott 6-1, 6-1 to win the title.

“I was pretty excited for the win,” Barksdale said. “It’s always good to do so. We’re a new team and are working hard.”

“Barksdale played really well, and all of the girls played pretty well for our second fall tournament,” head coach Steve Barsby said.

Barksdale had fallen in her first match on Friday to ABAC’s Chanel Cunningham and then defeated Tampa’s Maddie Caropino, 6-0, 6-3.

Sophomore May Johnson won her first match Friday, 6-1, 6-3 against Stand, but then lost to Clayton State’s Katie White.

Senior Bertille Lion defeated UNC Pembroke’s Jenna McGary, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0, but then fell to Clayton State’s Ivana Krommelova, 6-1, 6-1.

Clayton State’s Marie Cercellatti and her teammate Viktoriya Semyrodenko advanced to the finals and were scheduled to face off this week in practice.

In other singles action on Saturday, freshman Tracy Bain picked up a hard-fought victory in the Flight B consolation semifinals, outlasting the University of Tampa’s Becky Ewing, 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.

Bain fell a little short in the consolation finals, dropping a tough 6-4, 7-6 decision to Tampa’s Amber Fahrner.

Freshman Lisa Setyon advanced with a bye but then lost Brenau’s Liubov Orlova, 6-0, 6-1.

Sophomore Michelle Lingner won over Budd, 6-1, 6-3 before falling to Brenau’s Hannah Thompson, 6-4, 6-1.

Clayton State picked up the title in this division as well, as Martina Dedaj knocked off Brenau’s Hannah Thompson, 7-5, 6-3.

Brenau’s Eline Nagels won the Flight C singles portion with a 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Clayton State’s Charlotte Fabricus.

GCSU freshman Kelly Edwards got a first round bye before losing to UNC Pembroke’s Christian Minnick, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In Flight “A” doubles action, Barksdale and senior Bertille Lion dropped an 8-3 contest to Clayton State’s Ivana Krommelova and Semyrodenko in the semifinals.

That pair will battle teammates Cercellatti and White for the finals at practice later this week.

Meanwhile in Flight B, sophomore Michelle Lingner and Setyon lost to Clayton State’s Jessica Budd and Dedaj, 8-5, in the quarterfinals.

Budd and Dedaj would go on to win the title, ousting Carson Newman’s Elliot and Stephanie Goode.

With the conclusion of the fall season, the Bobcats are looking to make improvements before the Spring 2011 season starts up. Barsby and Barksdale said part of that improvement process will rely on how well a young Bobcat team, with several freshmen and sophomores on the roster, matures.

“We would like to play a little more consistently,” Barksdale said. “We want to try to be a little more fit and be able to stay out there on the court a little longer.

“We’ve just got to work on our mental toughness a little bit and cut down on some of the mistakes like giving away free points,” Barsby said. “It’s still early on, and we’ve got a young team. At times, our toughness was there, and at other times, we looked really young.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Oct 8 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.