ST. PETER, Minn. —
Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.) got her season off to a roaring start for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team on Friday, as the junior breezed through her first two matches at the Gustavus Fall Invitational without dropping a game.
Vandenberg opened with an 8-0 victory over Amanda Ropiak of Concordia (Wis.), before following that up with a 6-0, 6-0 victory vs. Grinnell's Minna Montgomery.
Vandenberg will play her third-round match when singles play resumes Saturday.
Haley Jorgenson (Fallon, Nev.) and Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) also picked up wins in their opening-round matches at the Gustavus Invitational Friday, with Jorgenson bouncing Coe's Kaitlin Foster 8-2, while Boeve—playing in her first collegiate match—knocked off Ruth Rike of St. Catherine 8-1.
The Cardinal duo's runs came to a halt, however, in the second round, as Jorgenson suffered a 6-1, 6-0 loss to UW-Whitewater's Brittany Goebel and Boeve lost a marathon to Northwestern's Rachel Bostrom, 7-5, 7-6.
Ashley Syed (Lewisville, Texas), Summer Lardy (Richmond, Minn.), and
Sheyenne Bauer (Cannon Falls, Minn.) were not as fortunate in their opening matches of the day, dropping first-round matches 8-4, 8-1, and 9-7, respectively. Lardy also fell in the consolation bracket, dropping an 8-3 decision.
Lardy and Bauer kicked off the doubles portion on a high note, collecting an 8-6 victory, while Syed-Jorgenson and Vandenberg-Boeve were also victorious in their first double matches of the tournament, winning 9-7 and 8-3, respectively.
While their teammates were busy at the Gustavus Invitational,
Kirsten Hoffmann (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) kicked off their seasons at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships, also hosted by Gustavus.
Hoffmann, who received a first-round by, opened tournament play with a straight-set, 6-2, 5-2 setback at the hands of UW-La Crosse's Kimmy Mrozek, while Sonday suffered a 6-0, 6-1 setback to Jillian Wallace of UW-Whitewater in her collegiate debut. Sonday was then eliminated with an 8-3 loss to the nation's 17th-ranked player, Sarah Henderson of UW-Eau Claire, while Hoffman xxxxx
Hoffmann and Sonday teamed up in doubles as well at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional, dropping their opening-round match 8-5, before rebounding with an 8-3 win in their consolation match later in the day.
