University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Friday, September 29
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Ragin' Cajuns Invitational
Cajuns Have Solid First Day At Ragin' Cajuns Invite
9/29/2017 10:31:00 PM | Women's Tennis
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LAFAYETTE – Louisiana senior Kelly Drew won both of her matches to advance to the championship round in the second flight of the 2017 Ragin' Cajuns Invitational to highlight a busy but great day for the Cajuns women's tennis team at Cajun Courts.
Joining Drew on the win parade were freshmen Morgan Forshag and Kim Yatribi who's two wins not only put them in their respective draw's finals, but the wins were each women's first collegiate wins.
In doubles the Cajuns pair of Floriane Picaut and Dana Radovanovic continued their great start together, winning their only doubles match of the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles Main Draw): The Ragin' Cajuns freshman duo of Picaut and Radovanovic continued being a force together taking care of their first-round matchup against Southeastern Louisiana's pairing of Dahlmans and Yanez 6-4.
Picaute and Radovanovic had control of the match from start to finish, and even after a late push from the SLU duo, the Cajuns teammates slammed the door shut to take the final game and the match.
In the second flight, the Cajuns senior pair of Drew and Abby Johnson fell 6-3 to Incarnate Word's grouping of Zemunik and Sadiq. Drew and Johnson stayed in the fight, but in the end the UIW pair pulled away in the end for the win.
The third flight saw another young Cajuns pair, freshmen Yatribi and Forshag, fall to Prairie View A&M's grouping of Rhul and Castellanos 7-6 (3).
It was a back and forth affair, and Yatribi and Forshag made sure to make it a serious battle. With the match sitting at 6-6, it came down to a tiebreaker. The breaker was close, but late in the game the PVAMU duo dug in and took the breaker 7-4.
Finishing up doubles, in the fourth flight, for the Cajuns was junior Carla Ortega and freshman Kate McMahon who fell in a yet another tiebreaker 6-7 (5) to the split pairing of Chitdara from McNeese and Belianovich from Lamar.
Ortega and McMahon were behind in the middle of the match but stormed back to force the tiebreaker. Unfortunately, they couldn't maintain their momentum and the breaker ended 7-2 in favor of the split pair.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles Main Draw): Fresh off her doubles victory Radovanovic was thrust into a three-set battle against SLU's Dany Raygadas. The two women faced off for over two hours and in the end, they were both exhausted digging deep during the third set.
It was in that third set, after Radovanovic won the first set and Raygadas won the second, that Radovanovic showed her determination to win. She snagged the momentum early in the final set not willing to let it go, and she rode that all the way to a 6-1 third set victory to move onto the semifinals of flight three singles.
Drew, determined to put yet another Cajuns woman into the semis, punched her ticket to the flight two semis in straight sets, beating PVAMU's Ceci Mercier 7-5, 6-3. Although Mercier didn't make it easy in the first set, forcing Drew to take the extra game, Drew made sure that Mercier got no momentum from that. Winning the second set easily 6-3 to play in the next round.
Forshag took on UIW's Alejandra Landaluce in her flight six first round matchup. In straight sets Forshag dominated Landaluce 6-1, 6-4 to cruise into the semifinals of the main draw.
Yatribi, followed suit of her teammate and won her match in straight sets as well taking down PVAMU's Jimena Duran Castellanos 6-1, 6-0 to advance rather easily into the flight seven semifinals.
Coming off a run to the finals of the Contender CrossFit Islander Open, Picaut, playing in flight one, fell in a three-set marathon to Lamar's Jasmin Buchta 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5. Picaut came out strong and took the first set, but Buchta pushed it to a tiebreaker in the second set where Picaut lost the last two close, but tough points.
In the third and final set, Buchta again came back on Picaut who just couldn't hold off the storming Cardinal and lost the final set again after losing a few tough points at the end.
Playing in her first match since tearing her ACL last spring season, sophomore Marina Rodriguez Garcia lost in straight sets to UIW's Sara Djurdjevic. Rodriguez looked strong in the match, but Djurdjevic held off the feisty Spaniard on both sets to put Rodriguez into the back draw of flight five.
Sophomore Milena Achlamov faced off against McNeese's Phonexay Chitdara in flight four. Achlamov stayed in the match but Chirdara won on straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Johnson was knocked into the flight three back draw with a straight set loss to Marija Mastilovic of McNeese 6-3, 7-5. But Johnson didn't go down easily, fighting through the second set to force the extra game to stretch the third set score to 7-5.
In the sixth flight the Cajuns Ortega, moved into the back draw, falling in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to McNeese's Stella Carr.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Main Draw Semifinals): Looking to continue her way to the finals, Drew took on PVAMU's Neharika Rama and in straight sets Drew easily handled her opponent 6-1, 6-1 to head on to the finals in the second flight.
The match was in Drew's control from the start and she made sure to never let Rama get any scent of getting involved in the match, as Drew had her sights set on the final round.
Forshag found herself in fight on the way to her second career win, but in the sixth flight semifinals the young Cajuns woman survived a three-set match against Lamar's Natalia Garcia Molina 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Showing mental toughness not easily found in a freshman, Forshag shook off the first-set loss to come storming back in the next two sets. She made sure to leave no doubt as she dominated the last two sets 6-1, 6-3 to move onto to tomorrow's final in the sixth flight.
Yatribi's path to her second win on the day, and second career win, was a bit smoother as she took down McNeese's Sofia San Jose in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 to move onto the finals in flight seven.
Freshman Kate McMahon, looking to get in the win column for the first time in her career, faced off against Lamar's Priscilla Garza in flight eight's semifinal match. The first set wasn't easy for McMahon but that didn't deter McMahon from tasting victory for the first time and she won that set 7-5 on her way to a 7-5, 6-2 overall win.
Shortly after her three-set battle, Radovanovic faced off against NSU's Ela Iwaniuk and even though Radovanovic put up a fight throughout, she fell in straight sets to wrap up her weekend 6-3, 6-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Back Draw Semifinals): After dropping her first-round matchup in three-sets, Picaut looked to get back to her winning ways, and she did just that dominating UIW's Rachel Sadiq in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the finals of the flight one back draw.
Easily clinching a spot in the flight six back draw finals, was Ortega who dispatched Southern Miss.'s Anastasia Cobanovic in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
Once again showing the heart and determination that got her back on the court, Garcia put up yet another fight and she found herself in a three-set battle with PVAMU's Constanza Aranguiz.
Although Garcia fell, 7-5, 2-6, 11-9, the score tells the story of a women who wasn't ready for her day to end. After fighting tooth and nail through the first set, she came storming back in the second to force the tiebreaking third-set.
The third set tiebreaker ended with the highest tiebreaking score of the day, and the two battled all the way to the end. But Aranguiz snagged the final two points to pull away in the end.
Achlamov, playing in the flight four back draw, fell to a tough Victoria Kareh from UIW in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Achlamov put up a fight in both sets, but late in each Kareh put enough space between the two to come away with the win.
UP NEXT: The weekend finishes up, on Saturday Sept. 30, with doubles starting at 9 a.m. followed by the final round of singles. Follow @RaginCajunsWT for updates and links to recaps after the day's matches are over.
2017 Ragin' Cajuns Invitational Day One
September 29, 2017 at Lafayette, La.
Cajun Courts
Doubles (Main Draw Round One):
Picaut/Radovanovic (UL) def. Dahlmans/Yanez (SLU) 6-2 (Flight One)
Zemunik/Sadiq (UIW) def. Drew/Johnson (UL) 6-3 (Flight Two)
Rhul/Castellanos (PVAMU) def. Forshag/Yatrbi (UL) 7-6 (3) (Flight Three)
Chitdara (McNeese)/Belianovich (LU) def. Ortega/McMahon (UL) 7-6 (5) (Flight Four)
Singles (Main Draw Round One):
Jasmin Buchta (LU) def. Floriane Picaut (UL) 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 (Flight One)
Kelly Drew (UL) def. Ceci Mercier (PVAMU) 7-5, 6-3 (Flight Two)
Dana Radovanovic (UL) def. Dany Raygadas (SLU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 (Flight Three)
Marija Mastilovic (McNeese) def. Abby Johnson (UL) 6-3, 7-5 (Flight Three)
Phonexay Chitdara (McNeese) def. Milena Achlamov (UL) 6-1, 6-1 (Flight Four)
Sara Djurdjevic (UIW) def. Marina Rodriguez Garcia (UL) 6-1, 6-2 (Flight Five)
Morgan Forshag (UL) def. Alejandra Landaluce (UIW) 6-1, 6-4 (Flight Six)
Stella Carr (McNeese) def. Carla Ortega (UL) 6-2, 6-1 (Flight Six)
Kim Yatribi (UL) def. Jimena Duran Castellanos (PVAMU) 6-1, 6-0 (Flight Seven)
Singles (Main Draw Semifinals):
Drew (UL) def. Neharika Rama (PVAMU) 6-1, 6-1 (Flight Two)
Ela Iwaniuk (NSU) def. Radovanovic (UL) 6-3, 6-2 (Flight Three)
Forshag (UL) def. Natalia Garcia Molina (LU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 (Flight Six)
Yatribi (UL) def. Sofia San Jose (McNeese) 6-0, 6-1 (Flight Seven)
Kate McMahon (UL) def. Priscilla Garza (LU) 7-5, 6-2 (Flight Eight)
Singles (Back Draw Semifinals):
Picaut (UL) def. Rachel Sadiq (UIW) 6-2, 6-2 (Flight One)
Stacey Lackey (PVAMU) def. Johnson (UL) W/O INJ (Flight Three)
Victoria Kareh (UIW) def. Achlamov (UL) 6-4, 6-4 (Flight Four)
Constanza Aranguiz (PVAMU) def. Rodriguez Garcia (UL) 7-5, 2-6, 11-9 (Flight Five)
Ortega (UL) def. Anastasia Cobanovic (USM) 6-0, 6-0 (Flight Six)
Joining Drew on the win parade were freshmen Morgan Forshag and Kim Yatribi who's two wins not only put them in their respective draw's finals, but the wins were each women's first collegiate wins.
In doubles the Cajuns pair of Floriane Picaut and Dana Radovanovic continued their great start together, winning their only doubles match of the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles Main Draw): The Ragin' Cajuns freshman duo of Picaut and Radovanovic continued being a force together taking care of their first-round matchup against Southeastern Louisiana's pairing of Dahlmans and Yanez 6-4.
Picaute and Radovanovic had control of the match from start to finish, and even after a late push from the SLU duo, the Cajuns teammates slammed the door shut to take the final game and the match.
In the second flight, the Cajuns senior pair of Drew and Abby Johnson fell 6-3 to Incarnate Word's grouping of Zemunik and Sadiq. Drew and Johnson stayed in the fight, but in the end the UIW pair pulled away in the end for the win.
The third flight saw another young Cajuns pair, freshmen Yatribi and Forshag, fall to Prairie View A&M's grouping of Rhul and Castellanos 7-6 (3).
It was a back and forth affair, and Yatribi and Forshag made sure to make it a serious battle. With the match sitting at 6-6, it came down to a tiebreaker. The breaker was close, but late in the game the PVAMU duo dug in and took the breaker 7-4.
Finishing up doubles, in the fourth flight, for the Cajuns was junior Carla Ortega and freshman Kate McMahon who fell in a yet another tiebreaker 6-7 (5) to the split pairing of Chitdara from McNeese and Belianovich from Lamar.
Ortega and McMahon were behind in the middle of the match but stormed back to force the tiebreaker. Unfortunately, they couldn't maintain their momentum and the breaker ended 7-2 in favor of the split pair.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles Main Draw): Fresh off her doubles victory Radovanovic was thrust into a three-set battle against SLU's Dany Raygadas. The two women faced off for over two hours and in the end, they were both exhausted digging deep during the third set.
It was in that third set, after Radovanovic won the first set and Raygadas won the second, that Radovanovic showed her determination to win. She snagged the momentum early in the final set not willing to let it go, and she rode that all the way to a 6-1 third set victory to move onto the semifinals of flight three singles.
Drew, determined to put yet another Cajuns woman into the semis, punched her ticket to the flight two semis in straight sets, beating PVAMU's Ceci Mercier 7-5, 6-3. Although Mercier didn't make it easy in the first set, forcing Drew to take the extra game, Drew made sure that Mercier got no momentum from that. Winning the second set easily 6-3 to play in the next round.
Forshag took on UIW's Alejandra Landaluce in her flight six first round matchup. In straight sets Forshag dominated Landaluce 6-1, 6-4 to cruise into the semifinals of the main draw.
Yatribi, followed suit of her teammate and won her match in straight sets as well taking down PVAMU's Jimena Duran Castellanos 6-1, 6-0 to advance rather easily into the flight seven semifinals.
Coming off a run to the finals of the Contender CrossFit Islander Open, Picaut, playing in flight one, fell in a three-set marathon to Lamar's Jasmin Buchta 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5. Picaut came out strong and took the first set, but Buchta pushed it to a tiebreaker in the second set where Picaut lost the last two close, but tough points.
In the third and final set, Buchta again came back on Picaut who just couldn't hold off the storming Cardinal and lost the final set again after losing a few tough points at the end.
Playing in her first match since tearing her ACL last spring season, sophomore Marina Rodriguez Garcia lost in straight sets to UIW's Sara Djurdjevic. Rodriguez looked strong in the match, but Djurdjevic held off the feisty Spaniard on both sets to put Rodriguez into the back draw of flight five.
Sophomore Milena Achlamov faced off against McNeese's Phonexay Chitdara in flight four. Achlamov stayed in the match but Chirdara won on straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Johnson was knocked into the flight three back draw with a straight set loss to Marija Mastilovic of McNeese 6-3, 7-5. But Johnson didn't go down easily, fighting through the second set to force the extra game to stretch the third set score to 7-5.
In the sixth flight the Cajuns Ortega, moved into the back draw, falling in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to McNeese's Stella Carr.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Main Draw Semifinals): Looking to continue her way to the finals, Drew took on PVAMU's Neharika Rama and in straight sets Drew easily handled her opponent 6-1, 6-1 to head on to the finals in the second flight.
The match was in Drew's control from the start and she made sure to never let Rama get any scent of getting involved in the match, as Drew had her sights set on the final round.
Forshag found herself in fight on the way to her second career win, but in the sixth flight semifinals the young Cajuns woman survived a three-set match against Lamar's Natalia Garcia Molina 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Showing mental toughness not easily found in a freshman, Forshag shook off the first-set loss to come storming back in the next two sets. She made sure to leave no doubt as she dominated the last two sets 6-1, 6-3 to move onto to tomorrow's final in the sixth flight.
Yatribi's path to her second win on the day, and second career win, was a bit smoother as she took down McNeese's Sofia San Jose in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 to move onto the finals in flight seven.
Freshman Kate McMahon, looking to get in the win column for the first time in her career, faced off against Lamar's Priscilla Garza in flight eight's semifinal match. The first set wasn't easy for McMahon but that didn't deter McMahon from tasting victory for the first time and she won that set 7-5 on her way to a 7-5, 6-2 overall win.
Shortly after her three-set battle, Radovanovic faced off against NSU's Ela Iwaniuk and even though Radovanovic put up a fight throughout, she fell in straight sets to wrap up her weekend 6-3, 6-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Back Draw Semifinals): After dropping her first-round matchup in three-sets, Picaut looked to get back to her winning ways, and she did just that dominating UIW's Rachel Sadiq in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the finals of the flight one back draw.
Easily clinching a spot in the flight six back draw finals, was Ortega who dispatched Southern Miss.'s Anastasia Cobanovic in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
Once again showing the heart and determination that got her back on the court, Garcia put up yet another fight and she found herself in a three-set battle with PVAMU's Constanza Aranguiz.
Although Garcia fell, 7-5, 2-6, 11-9, the score tells the story of a women who wasn't ready for her day to end. After fighting tooth and nail through the first set, she came storming back in the second to force the tiebreaking third-set.
The third set tiebreaker ended with the highest tiebreaking score of the day, and the two battled all the way to the end. But Aranguiz snagged the final two points to pull away in the end.
Achlamov, playing in the flight four back draw, fell to a tough Victoria Kareh from UIW in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Achlamov put up a fight in both sets, but late in each Kareh put enough space between the two to come away with the win.
UP NEXT: The weekend finishes up, on Saturday Sept. 30, with doubles starting at 9 a.m. followed by the final round of singles. Follow @RaginCajunsWT for updates and links to recaps after the day's matches are over.
2017 Ragin' Cajuns Invitational Day One
September 29, 2017 at Lafayette, La.
Cajun Courts
Doubles (Main Draw Round One):
Picaut/Radovanovic (UL) def. Dahlmans/Yanez (SLU) 6-2 (Flight One)
Zemunik/Sadiq (UIW) def. Drew/Johnson (UL) 6-3 (Flight Two)
Rhul/Castellanos (PVAMU) def. Forshag/Yatrbi (UL) 7-6 (3) (Flight Three)
Chitdara (McNeese)/Belianovich (LU) def. Ortega/McMahon (UL) 7-6 (5) (Flight Four)
Singles (Main Draw Round One):
Jasmin Buchta (LU) def. Floriane Picaut (UL) 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 (Flight One)
Kelly Drew (UL) def. Ceci Mercier (PVAMU) 7-5, 6-3 (Flight Two)
Dana Radovanovic (UL) def. Dany Raygadas (SLU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 (Flight Three)
Marija Mastilovic (McNeese) def. Abby Johnson (UL) 6-3, 7-5 (Flight Three)
Phonexay Chitdara (McNeese) def. Milena Achlamov (UL) 6-1, 6-1 (Flight Four)
Sara Djurdjevic (UIW) def. Marina Rodriguez Garcia (UL) 6-1, 6-2 (Flight Five)
Morgan Forshag (UL) def. Alejandra Landaluce (UIW) 6-1, 6-4 (Flight Six)
Stella Carr (McNeese) def. Carla Ortega (UL) 6-2, 6-1 (Flight Six)
Kim Yatribi (UL) def. Jimena Duran Castellanos (PVAMU) 6-1, 6-0 (Flight Seven)
Singles (Main Draw Semifinals):
Drew (UL) def. Neharika Rama (PVAMU) 6-1, 6-1 (Flight Two)
Ela Iwaniuk (NSU) def. Radovanovic (UL) 6-3, 6-2 (Flight Three)
Forshag (UL) def. Natalia Garcia Molina (LU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 (Flight Six)
Yatribi (UL) def. Sofia San Jose (McNeese) 6-0, 6-1 (Flight Seven)
Kate McMahon (UL) def. Priscilla Garza (LU) 7-5, 6-2 (Flight Eight)
Singles (Back Draw Semifinals):
Picaut (UL) def. Rachel Sadiq (UIW) 6-2, 6-2 (Flight One)
Stacey Lackey (PVAMU) def. Johnson (UL) W/O INJ (Flight Three)
Victoria Kareh (UIW) def. Achlamov (UL) 6-4, 6-4 (Flight Four)
Constanza Aranguiz (PVAMU) def. Rodriguez Garcia (UL) 7-5, 2-6, 11-9 (Flight Five)
Ortega (UL) def. Anastasia Cobanovic (USM) 6-0, 6-0 (Flight Six)
Players Mentioned
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