Oct. 20, 2007
STANFORD, Calif.- Junior Jessica Nguyen and freshman Carolyn McVeigh will face each other in one of four quarterfinal matches on Sunday at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships.
The all-Cardinal matchup exists as a result of both players posting a pair of straight-set victories on Saturday afternoon. Nguyen, who at No. 4 is one of five seeded Stanford players in the main draw, breezed past Jolanta Twarowska of Pacific 6-2, 6-1 in the round of 32 before defeating Maria Mizyuk of Nevada 6-4, 7-5 in the round of 16.
McVeigh recorded victories over two seeded players to reach the quarterfinals. She first knocked off California's Stephanie Kusano (No. 9) 6-4, 6-4 and then upset Fresno State's Renata Kucerkova (No. 7) by a 6-2, 6-3 count.
Two Stanford doubles teams also reached the quarterfinals. Sophomore Lindsay Burdette and senior Celia Durkin, the tournament's No. 3-seeded tandem, edged Washington State's Ekaterina Burduli and Ekaterina Kamerdova 8-6. The Cardinal's second duo of Nguyen and freshman Hilary Barte pounded Oregon's Anna Powaska and Celine Rolly 8-1.
In other singles action, top-seeded Stephanie Babos of California ended an impressive tournament run for freshman Jennifer Yen with a 7-5, 6-1 decision in the round of 16. Yen outlasted Oregon's Rolly 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 in the round of 32 to force the matchup.
Barte easily handled California's Marina Cossou 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 32 before falling to No. 2-seeded Melanie Gloria of Fresno State 6-2, 6-1.
Fresno State's Anastasia Petukhova downed senior Whitney Deason 6-0, 6-2 in the round of 16, shortly after Deason defeated Pacific's Svenja Arens 6-3, 6-1 in her previous match.
Durkin and Burdette were both upset in the round of 32, with Durkin falling to Fresno State's Tinesta Rowe 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and Burdette losing to California's Bojana Bobusic 6-2, 6-0.
Stanford's other remaining doubles team of Deason and McVeigh suffered an 8-2 loss to Kucerkova and Petukhova of Fresno State 8-2.
Play continues Sunday at 9:30 a.m.