Madsen, Curiel battle, but fall at NJCAA women's tennis; two doubles teams reach consolation finals
TUCSON, AZ - Mesa's two remaining singles players gave their highly-seeded opponents strong battles Tuesday in the quarter-finals, but finally fell at the NJCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship being played at the Reffkin Tennis Center.
After the first two days of play MCC is in 14th place with 15 points.
Sydney Madsen (So., Orem, Utah/Perry (AZ) H.S.) took third-seeded Autria Compton, of Tyler (Texas) into a third set before falling, 2-6, 6-4, 1-6, at No. 6 singles.
Meanwhile, Desiree Curiel (So., Globe-Miami, AZ/Miami H.S.) battled No. 1-seeded Mingxiu Du, of ASA, in the No. 4 singles quarter-finals before bowing, 4-6, 1-6.
All three doubles teams won and advanced to the consolation semi-finals.
In the No. 3 match, Madsen and Vanessa Mitrica (So., Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain H.S.) defeated Koryanne Arnold and Jamie Tubao, of Harford, 9-7. The duo then reached the consolation final with an 8-5 win over Claudia Maka and Tricia Poremba, of Moraine valley. They will face Tymeka Hunter and Krissy stutts, of Jones Co., at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday for the consolation final.
The No. 1 team of Rachael Eshillonu and Sheridan Skarda (Fr., Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain H.S.) topped Amanda Bertoldi and Rachel Farmer, of Snead State, 8-1 The pair then fell in the semi-finals toPaige Gibson and Caroline Terry, of Meridian, 4-8.
Curiel and Michelle Fournier (Fr., Chicago, Ill/Saguaro (AZ) H.S.), playing No. 2, beat Nieszka Szudy and Lindsey Walker, from Moraine Valley, 8-1. The two then reached the consolation final by beating Brianna Beus and Cassidy McWhorter, of Eastern Arizona, 8-3. They will play in the final against Karli Beck and Barbara Cogognotto, of Barton, at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.