Netters finish fourth
Published 9:29 am Tuesday, September 6, 2005
By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
KALAMAZOO - The Dowagiac varsity tennis team finished fourth at the Parchment Invitational on Friday.
Parchment won its own tournament with 60 points to easily outdistance runner-up Paw Paw, which finished with 49 points.
Vicksburg was third with 48 points and Dowagiac fourth with 47. Forest Hills Eastern was fifth with 43 points, Buchanan sixth with 32 points and Lake Michigan Catholic with 26 points.
Dowagiac won three championships on Friday as its top three singles players all took first place.
Lisa Rubino successfully defended her title at No. 1 singles as she defeated Parchment's Georganne Hagemann, 6-4 and 6-0. Rubino went 3-0 on the day.
Ann O'Keefe also defended her singles title from a year ago, however, O'Keefe was a champion at No. 2 singles this season. Last year O'Keefe was the champion at No. 4 singles.
She defeated Parchment's Kelsey Schultz, 6-1, 4-6 and 10-5 in a super tiebreaker. O'Keefe was 3-0 on the day.
Taylor Townsend also was a champion as she captured the No. 3 singles title with a 6-4 and 6-0 win over Parchment's Kate Bushouse. Townsend was also 3-0 on the day.
Dowagiac's No. 2 doubles team of Ashley Smith and Kim Rutkowski finished third with a 2-1 record. They defeated Jenny Bell and Alyssa Losure of Parchment in the consolation finals, 6-1 and 6-2.
Amelia First went 1-2 on the day at No. 4 singles to finish fourth for the Chieftains.
Samantha Stone and Kaitlyn Tyrakowski took fifth at No. 5 doubles with a 1-1 record, while Calie Daniels and Lindsay Tyler were sixth at No. 1 doubles after going 1-2.
Kayleigh Sundman and Heather Bankston were also sixth at No. 4 doubles as they too were 1-2.
Tonya Scherer and Kate Duszynksi went 1-2 to take seventh at No. 3 doubles.
Dowagiac returns to the court today as it makes up its match with visiting Paw Paw.
The non-conference match is slated to begin at 4 p.m.