Junior Juliette Mavroleon made it to the semifinal round in the Cissie Leary Invitational over the weekend as Arizona competed in the Philadelphia-hosted tournament for the third straight year.
UA head coach Vicky Maes thought Mavroleon’s stay could have been extended.
“”I think she was a lot better than the girl she played, and she just couldn’t get it done,”” Maes said.
Mavroleon, a No. 1 seed in the singles event, advanced to the semifinals yesterday and lost to Columbia’s No. 3 seed Milena Kachar in a series of tiebreakers 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3).
In the quarterfinals, Mavroleon lost the first set, 6-3, against Lauren Sadaka of host Pennsylvania, but went on to win the last two sets, 6-2, 10-6.
This tournament gives us an opportunity to see where we are and what we need to work on.
– Vicky Maes, UA head coach
She won often in the first two days of competition, defeating Minnesota’s Alex Seaton in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 on Friday and continuing her winning streak by beating Princeton’s Blakely Ashley, 7-5, 6-3.
The event also gave Maes a chance to see freshman Natalia Toporowska, who played in her first collegiate tournament.
“”She needs to make changes to her game if she wants to win against different matchups,”” Maes said of Toporowska. “”Overall, it was good for me to watch her play.””
Toporowska advanced to the third round before falling to Melissa Saiontz of Princeton in straight sets on Saturday, 2-6, 1-6.
She beat Jackie Wong of Penn in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 10-6, on and was leading Harvard’s Elizabeth Brook 5-1 in earlier action when Brook retired.
UA sophomore Tina Razloznik was knocked out of the tournament in the first round Friday, losing in straight sets to Sarah Huah of Princeton 0-6, 1-6.
Paired in the doubles draw, Mavroleon and Toporowska shared the No. 1 seed and lost 8-1 Saturday in the second round against Laura Peterzan and Preethi Mukundan of Harvard. They previously defeated Cornell’s Nina Suda and Lauren Shearer 8-2 in the first round.
Maes said that having a chance to see the team compete in its first tournament of the season helped her evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.
“”This tournament gives us an opportunity to see where we are and what we need to work on,”” she said.
