Oct. 22, 2004

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - University of Tennessee junior tennis player Sabita Maharaj (Gainesville, Fla. / Buccholz H.S.) advanced to the round of 16 at the Wilson ITA Regional Tournament on Friday with a pair of victories. The No. 6 seed defeated Renata Caceres of Winthrop, 6-1, 6-3, before topping Marina Tasheva of Tennessee Tech, 6-2, 6-3. She will now face Karin Coetzee of Wake Forest, the third seed, at 8 a.m. on Saturday in a round of 16 match.

Sophomore Victoria Jones (Tyne & Wear, U.K. / South Tyneside College) won her first round match, topping the seventh seed from Clemson, Daniela Alverez, by 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 scores before falling to Kim Coventry of Kentucky in the second round, 6-4, 6-1.

A first round loss cut sophomore Blakeley Griffith's (Middlesburg, Va. / Loudoun County H.S.) singles bracket short as she fell to Saras Arasu of Duke, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Doubles action originally scheduled for Friday night was postponed to Saturday morning, so UT's tandem of Griffith and Jones will play its second round match at 9:30 a.m. versus Caroline Bentley and Mary Hagood of Furman. The winner of that contest advances to a round of 16 contest at noon on Saturday.

Both singles and doubles brackets consist of six rounds. The singles finalists and the doubles champion will be invited to the prestigious ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, which will be competed from Nov. 4-7 at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Saturday's UT Schedule
8 a.m. - Maharaj vs. Coetzee (Wake Forest), round of 16
9:30 a.m. - Griffith and Jones vs. Bentley and Hagood (Furman), second round
Noon - Griffith and Jones vs. TBD, round of 16, if qualify