Oct. 16, 2011

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

The trio of Marie Casares, Jackie Wu and Lauren Mira continued strong play at the ITA Ohio Valley Regionals in a difficult day of play, as they won their first round of singles play, and Wu won her second singles match to move to the quarterfinals.

"It was a long, tough day today," said assistant coach Aleke Tsoubanos. "We competed very well in every match, but came up a bit short in a few of them."

Both Wu and Mira won their early singles matches in straight sets, with Wu beating her opponent 6-1, 6-1 and Mira winning her sets 6-3, 6-3. Casares won her first match in a tie breaker 7-5, dropped her second set 2-6, and soundly beat her opponent 6-1 in the third.

In the second round of singles play, Casares lost 6-4, 6-4, and Mira dropped a match in which she nearly forced a thrid set. Wu, however, beat her opponent to move forward tomorrow.

"In her second match, I was impressed with the way Jackie handled adversity and a powerful, athletic opponent to win in straight sets," said Tsoubanos. "She will have another challenge tomorrow in the quarterfinals, and it should be a great match."

In doubles play, Wu and Mira dropped a close quarterfinals match 9-7.

"Jackie and Lauren had opportunities in their doubles early, but credit is due to a resilient Memphis team that hung around and played a little bit more aggressive than we did in the end," said Tsoubanos. "There were a lot of lessons we can take away from today and continue to improve on throughout the fall season."

Sunday’s Doubles Results (quarterfinals):
WELCHER/HIBBERD (Memphis) def. MIRA/WU (Vandy) 9-7

Singles Results (Round of 32):
WU (Vandy) def. BELLINI (Lipscomb) 6-1, 6-1
CASARES (Vandy) def. FAOUZI (EKU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
MIRA (Vandy) def. THURMAN (Miami OH) 6-3, 6-3

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