Tennis Set to Begin Fall Season at Cissie Leary Tournament

Sept. 20, 2007

LAWRENCE, Kan. —

In its first of five fall tournaments, the University of Kansas tennis team will kick off its season Friday at the three-day Cisssie Leary Tournament in Philadelphia.

The event, which is being hosted by Penn, will pit KU against nine other schools, including four squads — Virginia Tech, Princeton, Yale and Penn — who finished the 2007 spring season nationally ranked.

Kansas will send six athletes to the tournament to compete in both singles and doubles bracket play. The event will mark the first appearance in a Jayhawk uniform for freshmen Maria Martinez and Mymee Tokuda, who will be joined by teammates Elizaveta Avdeeva, Edina Horvath, Kunigunda Dorn and Yuliana Svistun.

Avdeeva and Horvath, who were recently tabbed No. 36 in the ITA’s preseason national doubles rankings, will use the tournament as final preparation for the ITA All-American Championships, which are set to begin Sept. 29.

Svistun and Dorn will each look to duplicate successful fall seasons of a year ago. A Ufa, Russia native, Svistun opened last fall by winning her singles bracket at the Deacon Classic, and later took home a singles championship at the Tar Heel Classic as well. Dorn also performed strong last year, winning her draw at the Hoosier Classic along with advancing to the quarterfinals at the Deacon Classic.

Visit kuathletics.com for complete results following each day of the Cissie Leary Tournament.