Women’s Tennis: Van Den Aarssen And Vandyke Lead Cajuns At Auburn Invite 9/11/12

Women’s Tennis: Van Den Aarssen And Vandyke Lead Cajuns At Auburn Invite 9/11/12

Contact: Jeff Schneider

AUBURN, Ala. – Underclassmen Sophie van den Aarssen and Bailey Vandyke led the Ragin’ Cajuns women’s tennis team at the Auburn Invitational this past weekend in Auburn, Ala.

“Our goal was to start off the first weekend against high level competition to see where we stack up as a team and I believe we did well,” head coach Greg Harkins said. “Despite having five newcomers this year, we have shown that we can compete at a high level. We are going to continue to train hard on and off the court. I saw some positive things that we can definitely improve on.”

Vandyke and van den Aarssen combined to defeat Tulane’s top doubles team of Klara Vyskocilova and Jenny Hois 8-6 in the first round of doubles competition. The duo also won a tough 9-7 decision over Kennesaw State’s Alexandra Apostu and Virginie Stein in the third place match.

“We performed really well in doubles,” Vandyke said. “Sophie and I started to develop chemistry on the court. At the same time my teammates were also there to support us and that really helped to pull us through. We were very excited about our doubles win against Tulane.”

Individually, van den Aarssen picked up a 3-6, 6-2, 1-0(7) victory over Chattanooga’s Jenna Nurik in flight one, while Vandyke topped Northwestern State’s Polina Konop in flight two, 6-3, 6-2.

“I felt like coach has done a great job preparing us in a short time,” Vandyke added. “Having played against some really good teams has shown me what I need to do to get better as a player.”

In flight three, junior Sandra Ahlqvist lost a hard fought battle against Mississippi State’s Naomi Tran, 3-6, 6-1, 1-0(11-9).

“It’s good to be back and get back at it on the court,” Ahlqvist said. “I think this weekend shows that even though we have five freshmen, everyone knows how to compete. We had plenty of chances.”

Newcomer Nicole Breaux and senior Hannah Appleyard also picked up wins over the weekend. Breaux defeated Georgia Southern’s Caitlin Kitchen 6-4, 6-0, while Appleyard won against KSU’s Blaire LaSure, 6-3, 6-4.

The Cajuns return to action on Oct. 5-7 when they host the University of Louisiana Invitational at Cajun Courts.

— Ragin’ Cajuns —

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