Oct. 4, 2009
NORFOLK, Va. -- A pair of Monarchs and four Lady Monarchs advanced to the semifinals at the Old Dominion Collegiate Invitational on Saturday. The semifinals and championship matches will be held on Sunday.
On the men's side, Krzysztof Muzalewski led the way, reaching the semifinals in the Men's B draw. He won 6-4, 6-4 over NJIT's Cosmin Chiujdea before pairing against George Washington University's Erik Hannah in an epic match. Hannah and Muzalewski stretched both the first and second sets to a tiebreaker before the Monarch junior won it in the third, 7-5. The final score was 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 1-0 (5).
He will face William & Mary's Richard Wardell in the semifinals Sunday, and the winner will advance to face either Alex Funkhouser (Coastal Carolina) or Beto Mondini (Campbell).
Yakov Diskin also advanced to the semifinals on Saturday. After a first round bye, Diskin defeated Campbell's Lubos Sobotka in a 6-3, 6-3 final. He will play Ben Wirth (Liberty) in the semifinals of the Men's Singles C draw on Sunday.
The women's team sent four Lady Monarchs to the semifinals on Saturday, with an incredibly successful tournament thus far. All four Lady Monarchs entered in the tournament will have a semifinal match on Sunday.
Irina Dementyeva, in the Women's Singles B draw, won two matches on Saturday to advance. She defeated Norfolk State's Brittany Foster 6-3, 6-1 and then dispatched Hofstra's Christie Gattelaro, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarters. She will face Mary Washington's Courtney Goimarac on Sunday and the winner will face the winner of the other semifinal between Samantha Carnall (Delaware) and Michelle Nguyen (JMU).
Freshman Juliana Pires also won a pair in the Women's Singles C draw. Pires defeated Pittsburgh's Minh Evans, 6-0, 6-1 and then won 10-8 in the third set of the quarterfinal to advance. The 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (8) match was against Liberty's Hannah Fick. Pires is set to face Campbell's Ana Surviladze in the semifinals on Sunday.
Finally, Diana Ivanova, also playin in the Women's Singles C draw, advanced to the semifinals with one win over Liberty's Valeriya Klintsevich, 7-5, 6-1. In the Women's Singles D draw, Marija Citic posted a pair of wins against Navy's Cha Suriben and Campbell's Cortney Armitano to advance to the semi's.
Play concludes Sunday at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the campus of Old Dominion University.