Jan. 16, 2004

LAS VEGAS, Nevada

Senior Tammy Encina of the 10th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vol tennis squad cruised into the quarterfinals of the Freeman Memorial Championships on Friday, a tournament which includes 13 of the top-100 singles players in the nation.

The 13th-ranked Encina breezed by Arizona State's Cindy Sureephong, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round, then downed UNLV's Claire Smith, 6-4, 6-0, in round two. Encina, who now has a singles record of 9-3 this season, will face Jitka Schonfeldova of Georgia in the quarterfinal round on Saturday.

The Lady Vol tandem of sophomore Sabita Maharaj and junior Ashley Robards also advanced to the quarterfinal round of the doubles bracket, where they will face top-seeded Alice Barnes and Theresa Logar of Stanford on Saturday. Maharaj and Robards made it look easy in round one, defeating UNLV's Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis and Claire Smith by an 8-1 count.

Tennessee's two other doubles teams, unfortunately, did not fare as well in the opening day of competition. Encina and sophomore Melissa Schaub lost to Stanford's Emilia Anderson and Joanna Kao, 8-4, while freshman Blakeley Griffith and Majen Immink fell to No. 41 Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis of North Carolina, 8-4.

In other singles action for the Lady Vols, 86th-ranked Maharaj opened the tourney by advancing over Georgia's Douglas Wink, after Wink retired during the match. In the second round, however, Maharaj met up with No. 73 Story Tweedie-Yates of Stanford, and fell by a score of 7-5, 6-4.

Both Griffith and Immink, meanwhile, won in consolation play after being defeated in the opening round. Griffith dropped UNC's Lee Bairos, 6-3, 7-6, while Immink beat UNLV's Anne Claire Ortiz Luis, 6-2, 6-0, to move on to the second round of consolation play. Robards and Jones, however, fell in consolation play after recording losses in the opening as well.

The Freeman Memorial Championships will continue on Saturday and wrap up with championship matches on Sunday. After returning from Las Vegas, the Lady Vols will head north to battle No. 75 Indiana on Sat., Jan. 24 in Bloomington, Ind., and No. 48 Ohio State on Sun., Jan. 25 in Columbus, Ohio, in their first two dual matches of the year.

FREEMAN MEMORIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (LAS VEGAS, NEV.)

UT Singles Results for Fri., Jan. 16
#13 Tammy Encina (UT) def. Cindy Sureephong (Arizona State), 6-1, 6-2 (Round of 32)
#86 Sabita Maharaj (UT) def. Douglas Wink (Georgia), Retired, (Round of 32)
Sara Anunsden (North Carolina) def. #96 Ashley Robards (UT), 6-1, 6-3 (Round of 32)
#61 Emilia Anderson (Stanford) def. Blakeley Griffith (UT), 6-4, 6-4 (Round of 32)
#34 Aniela Mojzis (North Carolina) def. Majen Immink (UT), 6-1, 6-2 (Round of 32)
#95 Alexandra Smith (Georgia) def. Victoria Jones (UT), 7-5, 7-5 (Round of 32)
#13 Tammy Encina (UT) def. Claire Smith (UNLV), 6-4, 6-0 (Round of 16)
#73 Story Tweedie-Yates (Stanford) def. #86 Sabita Maharaj (UT), 7-5, 6-4 (Round of 16)
Kendrick Bunn (North Carolina) def. Victoria Jones (UT), 6-3, 6-2 (Consolation)
Sabrina Capanolla (Arizona State) def. #96Ashley Robards (UT), 7-6, 1-6, 6-2 (Consolation)
Blakeley Griffith (UT) def. Lee Bairos (North Carolina), 6-3, 7-6 (Consolation)
Majen Immink (UT) def. Anne Claire Ortiz Luis (UNLV), 6-2, 6-0 (Consolation)

UT Doubles Results for Fri., Jan. 16
Anderson/Kao (Stanford) def. Encina/Schaub (UT), 8-4 (Round of 16)
#41 Cline/Mojzis (North Carolina) def. Griffith/Immink (UT), 8-4 (Round of 16)
Maharaj/Robards (UT) def. Ortiz-Luis/Smith (UNLV), 8-1 (Round of 16)