Sept. 25, 2003

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.

Three University of Tennessee doubles teams fell on day one of the adidas Collegiate Invitational on Thursday. While UT's top doubles tandem of senior Tammy Encina and junior Majen Immink, seeded second and ranked 14th by the ITA, have a first-round bye and do not compete until Friday, the other three Lady Vol pairs in action on Thursday all suffered defeats.

The UT duo of freshman Blakeley Griffith and sophomore Sabita Maharaj fell to Paty Aburto and Karla Mancinas of TCU, 8-6. The Tennessee tandem of freshman Victoria Jones and junior Ashley Robards, meanwhile, dropped an 8-5 decision to Paige Brown and Saber Pierce of TCU. Finally, Lady Vols Erin Cohn and Claudia Farace suffered an 8-1 setback to Louisville's Michelle Spiess and Leslie Stewart.

UT's singles efforts on Friday will be led by senior Tammy Encina (Miami Beach, Fla.), tabbed at No. 27 in the ITA rankings. After a first-round bye, Encina will face either Tory Zawacki of Duke or No. 79 Shana McElroy of Wisconsin at 1 p.m. on Friday in the top singles draw. Other Lady Vols in action in the top draw include junior Ashley Robards (Henderson, Ky.), who will take on No. 42 Jessica Rush of Northwestern at 8 a.m. Friday, and sophomore Sabita Maharaj (Gainesville, Fla.), who battles Notre Dame's Kristina Stastny at 9 a.m. Friday.

Five Lady Vols, meanwhile, will be competing in the second draw of singles: senior Melinda Morrow (Montgomery, Ala.) will play TCU's Karla Mancinas at 10:30 a.m. Friday, junior Erin Cohn (Richardson, Texas) faces Andrea Yung of Northwestern at 9:30 a.m. Friday, junior Claudia Farace (Baltimore, Md.) takes on Louisville's Mackenzie Mekus at 10 a.m. Friday, freshman Blakeley Griffith (Middleburg, Va.) battles Wisconsin's Nicole Beck at 10 a.m. Friday, junior Breanna Kray duels with Louisville's Natalie Laszkowski at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and freshman Victoria Jones competes against Kelly Taylor of Louisville at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

UT Doubles Results for Thurs., Sept. 25
#14 Encina/Immink (UT) bye
Spiess/Stewart (Louisville) def. Cohn/Farace (UT), 8-1
Aburto/Mancinas (TCU) def. Griffith/Maharaj (UT), 8-6
Brown/Pierce (TCU) def. Jones/Robards (UT), 8-5

UT First Singles Draw Schedule for Fri., Sept. 26
#27 Tammy Encina (UT) bye
Ashley Robards (UT) vs. #42 Jessica Rush (Northwestern), 8 a.m.
Sabita Maharaj (UT) vs. Kristina Stastny (Notre Dame), 9 a.m.

UT Second Singles Draw Schedule for Fri., Sept. 26
Blakeley Griffith (UT) vs. Nicole Beck (Wisconsin), 10 a.m.
Victoria Jones (UT) vs. Kelly Taylor (Louisville), 9:30 a.m.
Breanna Kray (UT) vs. Natalie Laszkowski (Louisville), 9:30 a.m.
Erin Cohn (UT) vs. Andrea Yung (Northwestern), 9:30 a.m.
Claudia Farace (UT) vs. Mackenzie Mekus (Louisville), 10 a.m.
Melinda Morrow (UT) vs. Karla Mancinas (TCU), 10:30 a.m.