Six Spartans Begin Play At ITA Midwest Tournament
10/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 21, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Michigan State women's tennis team began play at the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament Thursday, Oct. 21 which runs through Tuesday Oct. 26 in Minneapolis. The Spartans saw six of their eight attending players compete in the first and second qualifying singles rounds.
Sophomore Pascale Schnitzer (Santiago, Chile) came out as today's frontrunner as she fought her way to stay alive for competition tomorrow. Schnitzer breezed by Megan Gregory of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 6-0, 6-1, in the opening round. Following her morning victory, Schnitzer went on to defeat Jennifer Smith of Notre Dame, 6-2, 6-1. Schnitzer moves on to the final qualifying singles round.
"She's a great competitor," said head coach Tim Bauer. "Pascale has struggled in the first couple of tournaments and it's great to see her succeed and achieve her goals."
Freshman Christine Bader (Okemos, Mich.) had a bye for the first round and was then defeated by MaCall Harkins of Illinois in a fierce battle that led to a three-set match. Macall took the first set 6-2, but Bader came back strong to take the second set 6-2. However, the last and final set belonged to Harkins, 6-4.
Senior Karen Gustafson (East Lansing, Mich.) split the day by winning her first match against IUPUI's Michelle Cunningham, 6-4, 6-3. In her second match of the day, Gustafson was defeated by Iowa's Milica Veselinovic, 6-4, 6-2
Sophomore Sarah Andrews (Darwin, Australia) won her first-round match against Evansville's Beth Peyton, 6-0, 6-4, but fell to Jane Anderson of Minnesota in the second round, 6-2, 6-0.
Evansville's Jessica Jeytton defeated junior Marta Walasek (Ann Arbor, Mich.), 6-2, 6-0 in the first round.
Freshman Jaylen Musselman (Muckegon, Mich.) was defeated by Heather Hardings from Wisconsin-Green Bay, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round.
"Overall we are still working on becoming better competitors," commented Bauer on today's performance.
Play will resume tomorrow with the final round of qualifying followed by the first round of doubles.
