Sept. 23, 2005

College Park, Md. - The Maryland women's tennis team had a successful start to the Maryland Invitational on Friday. Six Terrapin players advanced to the semifinals of their respective brackets. Match play will continue tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Tennis Center at College Park.

In the Flight A bracket, Ramona But defeated Lauren Connelly of Notre Dame, 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the quarterfinals. But who received a first round bye will face Ekaterina Burduli of the Washington State Cougars in the semifinals tomorrow. Marianne Baker fell to Clelia Deltour of Duke, 6-3, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. Veronika Subertova advanced to the semifinal round of the Flight B bracket by defeating Aleksandra Cekic of Washington State, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Neda Mihneva defeated Tiffany Tucker of LSU, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Mihneva lost her quarterfinal matchup to Amy Toth of Washington State, 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-3.

In Flight C action, Julia Graca topped Natalia Prinz of West Virginia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Graca will square off against Olivia Nix of Yale in the semifinals tomorrow. Jennifer Dent fell to Marjolein of the Cougars in the quarterfinal round.

Freshman Juliana Naso won her first two matches as a Terrapin in the Flight D bracket. Naso defeated Tessa Hollyn Taub of the Cougars, 6-0, 6-4. She then went on to top Lilian Nguygen of Yale, 6-2, 6-1. Brooke Rogers shutout Karolina Gryguerowska of Yale, 6-0, 6-0. Masha Senic topped Bianca Selaru of Washington State, 6-4, 6-4 to move on to the semifinals.

The Terps dominated its doubles matches on the first day of the tournament. But and Baker defeated Burduli and Maria Ring of Washington State in the Flight A doubles bracket, 8-3. In Flight C doubles play, Naso and Rogers cruised past Hollyn Taub and Stefanova of the Cougars, 8-0. Maryland will be back in action tomorrow morning as Invitational play continues.