Sophomore Rebecca Breland was a bright spot for Temple as they began play in the Cissie Leary Invitational, defeating Delaware’s Kim Milla in her first singles match 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6). Coach Steve Mauro thinks that she has a chance to do very well at the tournament.
“I’m pretty confident,” Mauro said. “She has the potential, so she should win that bracket.”
The Cissie Leary Invitational began Friday and will continue until Sunday. It is a back-draw tournament, meaning that all the athletes are put into a 128-player bracket. It is not single elimination, so players who lose a match are not finished for the weekend.
With 91 players in the bracket, there were numerous first-round byes. Breland received a bye in round one, and then defeated Milla in round two. She is now in the round of 32.
Junior Alicia Doms lost her first round match 6-0, 6-3 to Katherine Yau of Dartmouth. Mauro said that Yau was hitting the balls harder than Doms was used to.
“She was having problems with the pace,” he said.
Sophomore Ama Osei lost her first round match 6-3, 6-0 to Galya Chernykh of Rhode Island. She will be competing again Saturday.
“She played a good first set,” Mauro said. “She was missing a lot her second set. I know she’s capable of doing better.”
Junior Jordan Batey defeated Drexel’s Marcela Rosales 6-3, 7-5 in the first round. Batey then lost 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (10-7) to Akron’s Angelika Jogasuria.
Yana Mavrina had a first round bye and made it to the tiebreaker in the second round before losing. Mavrina fell to Columbia’s Tiana Takanega 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7). Mauro still felt that she played a good matches.
“The match could have gone either way,” he said. “You never know, when instead of playing the third set, you play a tiebreaker. It could go either way.”
Junior Carly Bohman got an unexpected first round bye when her opponent from Rhode Island did not show up. She advanced to the second round, where she fell 6-2, 6-4 to Julienne Keong from Dartmouth. Mauro said she played “a great match”.
“She played against a tough opponent,” he said. “I’m happy the way she played.
Freshman Mwami Okasima was scheduled to play, but did not because she was not cleared by the NCAA in time.
In doubles action, Mavrina and Bohman won their first match against the St. John’s duo of Terri Thomas and Ksenia Mikhaylova 9-8. They then lost 8-4 to Ryann Young and Laila Judeh of Cornell.
Doms and Batey had a first round bye, and then lost 8-6 to Columbia’s Crystal Leung and Amy Li.
Osei and Breland also got a first round bye before losing to Yale’s Hanna Yu and Amber Li 8-1.
“They just got off to a slow start,” Mauro said.
Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.
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