University of Richmond
Pennsylvania - NCAA Regionals
Women's Tennis Falls in NCAA Regionals
05/10/2002 | Women's Tennis
May 10, 2002
DURHAM, N.C. - The University of Richmond women's tennis team dropped its first round match of the NCAA Tournament Friday morning as the team was defeated by Pennsylvania, 4-0, in a match played on the Duke University campus. The Atlantic 10 champion Spiders, playing in their first NCAA Tournament since 1998, struggled versus the 56th ranked Ivy League champions who eliminated Richmond from postseason play.
Richmond began the morning by dropping the first two doubles matches as Pennsylvania took the early 1-0 lead. The Spiders trailed 4-3 at the No.s 1 and 2 doubles positions, but the Quakers used a closing 4-1 run in each match to win them both by an identical 8-4 score.
The Spiders could not get it going in singles competition either as Pennsylvania won in straight sets at the No.s 1, 4, and 5 positions to claim the 4-0 victory. Sophomore Jeannette Cluskey (Minneapolis, Minn.) was defeated at the No. 1 position by Alice Pirsu, ranked 24th in the country, while junior Casey Cohen (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) and freshman Courtney Klein (East Amherst, N.Y.) fell at the No.s 4 and 5 spots, respectively.
The loss ends Richmond inaugural season in the Atlantic 10 during which the team went 5-0 and won the conference title. Overall, the Spiders finished with a record of 12-10, with eight of the 10 losses coming against ranked opponents, as Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Mark Wesselink has now led the team to double-digit victory totals in eight of the past nine seasons.
#56 Pennsylvania 4, Richmond 0
SINGLES
No. 1 - #24 Alice Pirsu (P) d. Jeannette Cluskey (UR), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 - Sanela Kunovac (P) v. Vanessa Bagnato (UR), 6-2, 3-1, DNF
No. 3 - Nicole Ptak (P) v. Lindsay Cox (UR), 6-4, 3-2, DNF
No. 4 - Raluca Ciulei (P) d. Casey Cohen (UR), 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 - Shelah Chao (P) d. Courtney Klein (UR), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 - Michelle Yeh (P) v. Patty Devlin (UR), 6-0, 1-2, DNF
DOUBLES
No. 1 - Kunovac/Rachel Shweky (P) d. Bagnato/Cox (UR), 8-4
No. 2 - Pirsu/Chao (P) d. Cluskey/Devlin (UR), 8-4
No. 3 - Ciulei/Ptak (P) v. Klein/ Monika Peets (UR), DNF
