Malinen Advances to Round of 16 in ITA Regionals

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – More than 100 athletes are out of the ITA Regional Championships in singles play, but the University of Colorado women's tennis player Monica Malinen is not one of them after she won two more matches Thursday to advance to the round of 16.

Malinen, a junior transfer from Western Kentucky, kicked off yesterday with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Morgan Dickason of Weber State. Today Malinen found herself down a set against Lindsay Hung of Utah with a 4-6 opening set loss. The junior rallied back to win the next two sets by a score of 6-3 in each. She wasn't done there, moving onto the round of 16 with a three-set victory against Tessa Van Der Ploeg of Wyoming. That final match Malinen dominated in the opening set with a 6-1 win, dropped the second one 4-6 then returned to finish with a 7-5 victory.

"Monica has been working hard ever since she arrived in August," said Head Coach Danielle Steinberg. "It's great seeing her hard work pay off. We are seeing great improvement even from our first fall tournament, and I think she's not even close to playing her best tennis. She showed great attitude and perseverance today and I am proud of her for that."

Malinen had a busy day with a pair of singles matches after playing a doubles match that morning. Malinen and Vera Markovic opened the morning in the doubles tournament with a win against a team from Utah State by a score of 8-5. The duo advances to the round of 16 in the doubles and will face a team from Northern Arizona tomorrow morning.

The other doubles team of Megan Forster and Annabelle Andrinopoulos made it to the round of 32 but fell to a tandem from Denver in a close 8-7 match.

Two other Buffs were in singles play today, but neither could move any closer to the championship. Andrinopoulos fell to Taylor Calton of Utah in a 6-3, 6-4 match in the round of 64. Markovic pushed hard in the second set but fell to Kristen Kerrigan of Air Force in a 6-1, 7-5 affair.

Tomorrow will feature Malinen and Markovic in the doubles tournament first, and with a victory they will play in the quarterfinals directly after that. Malinen will be busy with her singles match following that. Megan Forster will be back in action in singles in the consolation singles round, while the other doubles team and Markovic and Andrinopoulos will play extra matches in doubles and singles play to go towards their ITA rankings.

For live updated from Las Vegas follow the Buffs on Twitter at Colorado Buffaloes Tennis.

RESULTS:

SINGLES	ROUND OF 128
	Annabelle Andrinopoulos	def. Kate Cusick (BYU)	6-2, 7-5
	Vera Markovic	def. Selena Tunulja (NEV)	7-5, 6-7, 6-3
	Monica Malinen	def. Morgan Dickason (WSU)	6-2, 7-5
	Megan Forster	loss Anna Riedmiller (DEN)	6-1, 6-1
	ROUND OF 64
	Annabelle Andrinopoulos	loss Taylor Calton (UTAH)	6-3, 6-4
	Vera Markovic	loss Kristen Kerrigan (AF)	6-1, 7-5
	Monica Malinen	def. Lindsay Hung (UTAH)	4-6, 6-3, 6-3
	ROUND OF 32
	Monica Malinen	def. Tessa Van Der Ploeg (WYO)	6-1, 4-6, 7-5

DOUBLES	ROUND OF 64
	Forster/Andrinopoulos	def. Gorbacheva/Tararnickova (NEV)	8-2
	Malinen/Markovic	def. Almeida/Cusick (BYU)	8-5
	ROUND OF 32
	Forster/Andrinopoulos	loss Riedmiller/Burger (DEN)	8-7
	Malinen/Markovic	def. Deckers/County (USU)	8-5

SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Wednesday, Oct. 10 - First Round doubles (64) followed by First Round singles (128)
Thursday, Oct. 11 - Second Round doubles (32), Second Round (64) and Third Round singles (32), Consolation doubles
Friday, Oct. 12 - Round of 16 and Quarterfinal Round doubles, Round of 16 singles, Consolation singles & doubles, Added singles matches
Saturday, Oct. 13 - Semifinal doubles, Quarterfinal singles, Semifinal singles, Consolation singles & doubles, Added singles matches
Sunday, Oct. 14 - Doubles Final, Singles Final, Consolation singles, Consolation singles & doubles, Added singles matches

Results: http://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=29495

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Players Mentioned

Annabelle Andrinopoulos

Megan Forster

Monica Malinen

Vera Markovic