Andrew Noerr
Staff Writer
USF’s performance at the Spartan Invi- tational last weekend ended the fall season on a high note, and ensured that expecta- tions will be high for the upcoming spring season. Numerous Dons finished their seasons with victories at the tournament that took place in San Jose, Calif. and also featured players from Santa Clara and San Jose State. Redshirt junior Andrea Ka went a perfect 4-0 in her four singles matches on the weekend, and senior Ma- rina Nikolic, freshman Ines Teixeira, junior Sofia Holmberg, sophomore Genevieve McCloskey, and senior Milica Hadzi-Tanovic all won matches of their own at the invitational.
On Sunday, Ka finished the Spartan Invitational with two singles victories to confirm her unblemished weekend. She first took Nabila Farah of Santa Clara by a score of 6-1, 6-4, and then ousted Gaelle Rey of San Jose State 6-4, 6-2 to cap her impressive string of matches.
A handful of other Dons picked up wins on Sunday. Nikolic notched a 6-4, 6-2 win over Zeina El Tawil of Santa Clara, Teixeira defeated Danielle Zinn of Santa Clara 2-6, 6-2, 1-0[7], and Holmberg dispatched Santa Clara’s Elaine Chesoni 6-0, 6-4. Hadzi-Tanovic also emerged victorious after getting the best of San Jose’s Jessica Willett 6-3, 7-5. In Saturday’s action, Ka dominated Daniella Silva of Santa Clara 6-2, 6-1 in her only match of the day. Elsewhere, Hadzi-Tanovic defeated Zinn 6-1, 6-2, and McCloskey got into the win column by defeating Chesoni 6-2, 6-1. Teixeira capped the USF singles victories by beat- ing Riley Morgan of Santa Clara 6-1, 6-2. Although USF lost all three of their doubles matches on the day, their dou- bles struggles were overshadowed by their dominance in the singles matches.
On Friday, the Dons fared much bet- ter in doubles play, ending the day with two wins in three doubles matches. Ka and Holmberg teamed up in doubles play to cruise by Santa Clara’s Silva and Farah 8-3, and Teixeira and Hadzi- Tanovic outlasted Zinn and El Tawil in a nailbiting 8-7[3] victory. Ka was the only Don to win a singles match on Fri- day, and her victory came against Marie Klocker of San Jose State 6-2, 6-2.
After playing in four tournaments in the fall, the Dons’ first match of the spring will be on Jan. 24, 2015, when they battle Cal Poly at 3:00 p.m. at San Francisco’s Olympic Club to start what will hopefully be another successful season for USF.
