April 21, 2006

Tampa, Fla. - The ninth seeded Marquette women's tennis team rallied in singles play and won three matches, but fell short to 12 seed Connecticut, 4-3, in the consolation bracket of the BIG EAST Championship at the USF Varsity Courts in Tampa, Fla.

The Golden Eagles got the first doubles win with sophomore Erin Watkins and junior Francina Bonnelly taking down Christine Burek and BreAnn Cheung, 8-1, at no. 1 doubles. But the Huskies countered when Jess Porter and Liz Dibbs downed sophomore Maria Calbeto and junior Katie Donovan, 8-5, at no. 2 doubles. UCOnn's Alison Koch and Ashley Petruzzi secured the doubles point for the Huskies with a 8-6 win over junior Dominika Dabrowski and freshman Robin Metzler at no. 3 doubles.

"Losing the doubles point was tough, so we knew we had to get it together in singles," said head coach Jody Bronson.

In singles play, the Golden Eagles stormed back taking the match down to the wire after tying it up at three all, but the Huskies came out the victor earning the winning point in the third set of the number three singles.

Bonnelly gave Marquette its first point of the afternoon with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Dibbs at no. 4 singles. Calbeto followed and defeated Burek, 6-1, 6-4 at the top singles spot to put the Golden Eagles ahead 2-1. Koch evened things up for UConn taking a 6-2, 6-3 win from Andrea Bukacek at no. 6 singles, but Watkins gave the advantage back to the Golden Eagles after defeating Porter at no. 2 singles, 6-3, 7-6.

At no. 5 singles Metzler fell to Petruzzi in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to knot the match again at three apiece.

The match came down to Dabrowski at no. 3 singles. After losing the first set, 6-3, Dabrowski fought two win the second set in a tie-breaker to force a decisive third set. In the highly contested third set, Dabrowski fell short in a tie-breaker, 7-6 (6), leaving the Huskies to clinch the match win and play 10th seeded Seton Hall for ninth place.

"We came back in singles play and I really thought we were going to pull it out, but again, just like our match against Rutgers it just got away from us. It is very disappointing," added Bronson.

#12 Connecticut 4, #9 Marquette 3

Doubles
1. Erin Watkins/Francina Bonnelly (MU) def. Christine Burek/BreAnn Cheung (UConn), 8-1
2. Jess Porter/Liz Dibbs (UConn) def. Maria Calbeto/Katie Donovan (MU), 8-5
3. Alison Koch/Ashley Petruzzi (UConn) def. Dominika Dabrowski/Robin Metzler (MU), 8-6*

Singles
1. Maria Calbeto (MU) def. Christine Burek (UConn), 6-1, 6-4
2. Erin Watkins (MU) def. Jess Porter (UConn), 6-3, 7-6
3. BreAnn Cheung (UConn) def. Dominika Dabrowski (MU), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6)*
4. Francina Bonnelly (MU) def. Liz Dibbs (UConn), 6-2, 6-1
5. Ashley Petruzzi (UConn) def. Robin Metzler (MU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
6. Alison Koch (UConn) def. Andra Bukacek (MU), 6-2, 6-3

* denotes match clincher