Nov. 7, 2008

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - On the opening day of its final fall tournament, the University of Tennessee women's tennis team picked up a pair of victories in the first round of singles play at the Southeastern Conference Coaches Classic on Thursday at the University of Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Freshman Natalie Pluskota and sophomore Jennifer Meredith were the only two Lady Vols to emerge victorious in their singles contests, doing so in the Blue and Bronze draws, respectively. Pluskota tallied a solid 6-1, 7-5, triumph over Soledad Podlipnik from Ole Miss, while Meredith picked up a win when Kentucky's Caroline Lilley retired down 3-0 in the first set.

In other action, sophomore Rosalía Alda was defeated by No. 46-ranked Ela Kaluder, 7-5, 6-3, in the Crimson draw and senior Samantha Orlin suffered a 6-2, 6-3, to Alabama's Tiffany Welcher in the White draw. Junior Zsófia Zubor, meanwhile, rounded out UT's efforts for the day with a hard-fought, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), loss at the hands of the Tide's Merrit Emery in the Gold draw.

Doubles play will commence at 9 a.m. on Friday morning. Alda and Zubor will join forces to form the top doubles team for Tennessee this weekend. The duo will square off with Courtney McLane and Taylor Lindsey in the opening round, while the Lady Vol pairing of Meredith and Pluskota is scheduled to take on the Auburn tandem of Whitney Chappell and Jil Hastenrath.

Following play this weekend, the Lady Vols will be off from competitive action until they open the spring portion of their schedule at the Michigan Invitational from Jan. 17-19. UT's first dual match will take place at 1 p.m. on Sat., Jan. 24 against Illinois in Champaign, Ill. From there, the Big Orange will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on Purdue the following day.