Friday, September 27, 2002

Mei Ly advances to Lady Seminole Classic quarterfinals

unior Mei Ly (Miami/Coral Gables) advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Lady Seminole Fall Classic at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center in Tallahassee. The weekend competition includes nine programs from around the south, including host Florida State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky and South Florida.

Ly, who entered the competition as the No. 8 seed of the A Draw, beat Jackie Bohannon from Stetson, 6-3, 6-1, in the opening round, and then eliminated Florida State's Daniela Gheorghe, 6-4, 6-4. Ly meets Jamie Wong from Georgia Tech, Saturday in the quarterfinals with the winner advancing.

Three other Golden Panthers won opening-round matches as Bruna Discordia beat Julie Pecastaing (UCF), 7-6, 6-2 in the A Draw, and Courtney Jonson outlasted Nisrine Hajbane (Jacksonville), 6-3, 7-5, and Davina Duronio eliminated Jamie Larson (USF), 6-4, 6-1, in B Draw matches.

All three were eliminated in second round play, however, as was FIU's Christine Suard who lost to FSU's Amberly Tantee, 6-3, 6-2, after advancing on a first-round default.

Both FIU doubles teams won their first-round competitions before being eliminated in the second. Playing the A Draw, Ly and Suard beat USF's Fabiana Taverna and Luisa Obando, 8-5, then lost to the No. 2-seeds Jill Buckley and Amy Trefethen from Kentucky, 8-6.

On the B side, Discordia and Jonson knocked off Kim Packer and Tamara Kaftalovick from Jacksonville, 8-4, but fell to Kentucky's Kacie Anson and Shannon Stafford, 8-1, in the quarterfinals.