April 8, 2005

Queens, NY - The St. John's women's tennis team won its seventh-straight overall match and its fourth-straight BIG EAST contest with a 6-1 win over Connecticut this afternoon at the Alley Pond Tennis Center. With the win, the Red Storm improve to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in the BIG EAST.

St. John's took command of the match by sweeping all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead early on. Barbora Blahutiakova and Kristina Bothova breezed to an 8-0 win against Christine Burek and Ashley Petruzzi at the No. 3 spot. Lauren Leo and Mariana Chachua clinched the point for St. John's with a 8-2 win over Jen Lo Russo and Liz Dibbs at No. 2. Hande Gorur and Allison Davidson won 8-3 at No. 1 to complete the sweep.

St. John's began singles play with four consecutive straight set wins to clinch the victory, and went on to win 6-1. Chachua cruised past Petruzzi at the No. 6 spot, 6-1, 6-0 and was followed by an easy 6-2, 6-1 win by Gorur over Dibbs at No. 4. After winning the first set tiebreaker 7-5, Bothova went on to win the second set 6-3 over Whitney Cimcik at No. 2 for the decisive point.

Blahutiakova and Davidson wrapped up the Red Storm's singles victories, as Blahutiakova defeated Lo Russo at No. 1, 6-3, 7-5, and Davidson came from behind to beat Burek, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5. Leo was forced to retire from the second set, providing the Huskies with their lone point of the afternoon.

St. John's is back in action on Sunday, April 10 when they host Pittsburgh at 3 pm.