Sept. 27, 2008

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Junior Ana Marija Zubori from the South Carolina women’s tennis team advanced to the singles championship of flight one at the Furman Fall Classic on Saturday in Greenville, S.C.

Zubori, who is ranked No. 54 nationally this fall, defeated No. 23 Katrina Tsang of North Carolina in her first match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, Zubori upended No. 40 Catherine Newman from Vanderbilt. Zubori will face the nation’s No. 2-ranked player Ani Mijacika from Clemson in the championship Sunday at 9 a.m.

Miljana Jocic and Jelena Rajic were the only other Gamecocks to register wins on the day. Jocic was a 6-1, 6-1 winner against Furman’s Jessica Preeg in the first round of flight three before losing to No. 11 Georgia Rose from Northwestern in the semifinals. Rajic beat Laura Reichert of North Carolina in the opening round of flight four and then lost 6-0, 6-4 to No. 113 Federica Suess from Florida State.

In flight two, Natasa Vuckovic suffered a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to No. 6 Maria Mosolova from Northwestern and then fell 7-5, 6-2 to Sophie Grabinski from North Carolina. Suzanna Mansour dropped a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 contest to Furman’s Susan Bitetti in the first round of flight five before losing 6-2, 6-2 to No. 36 Lauren Lui of Northwestern.

Ashley Miller fell in a couple of tough matches in flight six. She first lost 7-5, 7-5 to Jennifer Betts from Furman and after winning the first set 6-3 against Vanderbilt’s Hannah Blatt, she suffered a 6-0, 6-1 defeat in the final two sets.

Singles Matches
#54 Ana Marija Zubori, USC, def. #23 Katrina Tsang, UNC, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 – Flight 1
#54 Ana Marija Zubori, USC, def. #40 Catherine Newman, VU, 6-4, 6-3 – Flight 1
#6 Maria Mosolova, NWU, def. Natasa Vuckovic, USC, 6-2, 6-2 – Flight 2
Sophie Grabinski, UNC, def. Natasa Vuckovic, USC, 7-5, 6-2 – Flight 2
Miljana Jocic, USC, def. Jessica Preeg, FU, 6-1, 6-1 – Flight 3
#11 Georgia Rose, NWU, def. Miljana Jocic, USC, 6-4, 6-0 – Flight 3
Jelena Rajic, USC, def. Laura Reichert, UNC, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 – Flight 4
#113 Federica Suess, FSU, def. Jelena Rajic, USC, 6-0, 6-4 – Flight 4
Susan Bitetti, FU, def. Suzanna Mansour, USC, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 – Flight 5
#36 Lauren Lui, NWU, def. Suzanna Mansour, USC, 6-2, 6-2 – Flight 5
Jennifer Betts, FU, def. Ashley Miller, USC, 7-5, 7-5 – Flight 6
Hannah Blatt, VU, def. Ashley Miller, USC, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 – Flight 6