Women’s Tennis Has Success at USTA/ITA Division III Central Regional

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St. Louis, Mo., September 30, 2012 – The Washington University in St. Louis women’s tennis team had four singles players and three doubles teams advance to the round of 16 to highlight play at the 2012 USTA/ITA Division III Central Regional Championships, held Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Sophomore Hanna Newstadt and junior Theresa Petraskova was the lone doubles team to advance to the quarterfinals, dropping a 9-8 decision to top-seeded Taylor Hawkins and Alex Marcell of Denison University. Newstadt and Petraskova, the No. 8 seed in the 64-team draw, defeated No. 9 seed Marianne Bonnano and Alex Lim of Case Western Reserve University 8-5 to advance to the quarters.

Advancing to the round of 16 in doubles was junior Betsy Edershile and freshman Jamie Silverberg, and the team of freshman Aly Coran and senior Kate Klein. Coran and Klein entered as the No. 2 seed, but were upset by Kaitlin Pickrel and Julie Wittwer of DePauw University 8-4 in the round of 16.

“I feel we made some progress this weekend. We figured out what areas we need to improve on in doubles and tried out some new combinations. This was some valuable feedback to get us ready for the spring,” said seventh year head coach Kelly Stahlhuth.

In singles, junior Aarthi Kasilingam, Klein, senior Paige Madara and Silverberg all advanced to the round of 16. Klein, the No. 2 seed in the 128 singles draw, dropped a 6-3, 7-6 decision to No. 14 seed Lauren Smith of Denison. Madara was unseeded and upended No. 17 seed Taylor Diffeny of Kenyon College 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the first round and No. 15 seed Bonnano 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.

Washington U. begins its 2013 spring season on Saturday, Feb. 23, at DePauw University.