April 20, 2007

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - Well rested after an opening-round bye, second-seeded Richmond used two straight doubles wins and a trio of singles victories to blank Saint Louis 4-0 at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Friday afternoon at Club 4 Life in Monroeville, Pa. The Bills dropped to 13-14 with the loss while the Spiders improved to 7-7.

Richmond jumped out to an early lead by taking the doubles point from the Billikens in just two matches. Jessica Hubbard and Xenia Schneider teamed at the No. 3 position to defeat Allison Dobbins and Rachel McCullagh 8-4. Saint Louis' Tara Grant and Katerina Lozanova battled at the No. 1 spot but the Spider tandem of Robin Carter and Beatrice Grasu proved to be a bit too much as they won 9-7 for the team point.

Ashlee Vosters shut out McCullagh in No. 4 singles action to put her team up by two. Then Richmond's Grasu downed Grant 6-0, 6-4 at the No. 3 spot and Carter beat Ana Renda 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 for the team victory.

Nationally-ranked Pamela Duran, also the reigning A-10 Most Outstanding Rookie, was unable to put away the Billikens' Lozanova at No. 1 singles as their match was unfinished. Duran is the third ranked player Lozanova has faced this season. Meanwhile, Jo Becker and Caitlin Bokulic were winning against their No. 5 and No. 6 foes, respectively, but their matches also were not played to a final decision.

"It's difficult to play two matches in one day but I thought we played well against the second-seeded team," head coach Jonathan Zych said. "I'm really proud of our effort and how we battled. Now it's almost like we're in a brand new tournament. We've got to bring it tomorrow."

Tomorrow the Billikens will play at 9:30 a.m. (CT) against the loser of the Charlotte/Duquesne match taking place on Friday evening. Friday's loss knocked SLU into the fifth-place bracket, which is the highest the Bills can finish.

Doubles
No. 1 - Robin Carter/Beatrice Grasu (UR) def. Tara Grant/Katerina Lozanova (SLU) - 9-7
No. 2 - Pamela Duran/Ashlee Vosters (UR) vs. Jo Becker/Ana Renda (SLU) - 6-5 DNF
No. 3 - Jessica Hubbard/ Xenia Schneider (UR) def. Allison Dobbins/Rachel McCullagh (SLU) - 8-4

Singles
No. 1 - Pamela Duran (UR) vs. Katerina Lozanova (SLU) - 6-4, 6-5 DNF
No. 2 - Robin Carter (UR) def. Ana Renda (SLU) - 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 - Beatrice Grasu (UR) def. Tara Grant (SLU) - 6-0, 6-4
No. 4 - Ashlee Vosters (UR) def. Rachel McCullagh (SLU) - 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 - Jo Becker (SLU) vs. Xenia Schneider (UR) - 6-3, 5-6 DNF
No. 6 - Caitlin Bokulic (SLU) vs. Jelena Zivanovic (UR) - 6-3, 3-4 DNF