King, Saiontz compete well at ITA Regionals

In the world of collegiate tennis, it takes far more than an isolated top finish to make a name for oneself. It takes a record of consistent appearances in top tournaments and a history of dominant play, which both junior Ivana King and freshman Melissa Saointz know something about.

This past weekend King and Saiontz competed in the annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Northeast Regional Tournament, a highly regarded competition attended by the region's top players from nearly all major schools. The contest serves as a qualifier for the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships as well. Though neither finished on top, both put together solid performances and built on their reputations as potentially dangerous players.

Both King and Saiontz played individually in the singles flight of the tournament before they joined forces to compete on the doubles side of play. Saiontz, the No. 7 seed, received a first-round bye while King played in two qualification rounds before entering the 128-player draw. King quickly proved herself quickly in the qualifying rounds of play held on Friday at Dartmouth by gliding past her first opponent in straight sets. Though she found herself down against Cornell's Elizabeth Googe in the third set of her second qualification match, King narrowly eked out a 7-6 victory in the final set to take the match.

In the first round of main tournament play, King faced Virginia Tech's J.J. Larson, whom she handled with ease and sent home with straight 6-2 sets.

"I knew I had to be aggressive if I wanted to win the match, and everything seemed to work out. I was coming in and putting away balls at the net from the very first point," King said.

King was later knocked out in the round of 32 by Yale's Janet Kim.

Saiontz also competed in the singles tournament. After sitting through her first-round bye, the freshman knocked out Virginia Tech's Pam Duran in straight sets to send her to the round of 32.

Here, one would expect the going to become tougher for Saiontz, yet she carried the momentum from her previous victory to crush St. Bonaventure's Anna Pereverentseva without dropping a single game to reach the round of 16.

On the doubles side of things, King and Saiontz combined talents to form the No. 8 seeded team from the 64-team pool. The two received a first-round bye on Saturday, setting them up to face Penn State's Lauren Holzberg and Sasha Abraham, whom they defeated by a score of 8-6 in the pro-set.

The Princeton pair then swiftly proceeded to hand UConn's duo, Breann Cheung and Kelly LoRusso, a crushing 8-2 loss.

"[Saiontz] has a wonderful touch and angles which are perfect for doubles. Ideally, when we play we set each other up well and move well," King said.

This wasn't enough, however, as the two were finally ousted in the round of 16 by Yale's top doubles team, the No. 14 seed, by a score of 8-4.

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"I am disappointed in the loss today, but I didn't really come to the tournament with a set expectation. I just wanted to play to the best of my capability for each match," King said.

On Monday afternoon, Saiontz continued her successful singles play, winning both her round of 16 and quarterfinal matches to advance to the semifinals.

In the round of 16, Saiontz defeated Buffalo's Andrea Novaceanu in straight sets, 6-0 and 7-5.

Later that afternoon, she beat Boston College's Lana Krasnopolsky in three sets.

In the first set, Saiontz came back from a 2-5 deficit to force a tiebreaker and win the set, 7-5. Then, Krasnopolsky battled back to take the second set, 6-4. Saiontz, however, won the third set in a dominating fashion, defeating Krasnopolsky 6-1 to advance to the quarters.

If all continues going well and Saiontz wins today's semifinal and final matches, she will travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship next weekend.