Feb. 15, 2009
Southwestern University competed in the Cru Classic hosted at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday and had a solid showing by many Pirates in the event.
In the women's flight one, Southwestern's Kelly Finn finished in third place. She started the day defeating St. Mary's Dani Aranda 6-2, 6-4 and then fell to eventual Classic Champion Tarleton State's Natalie Yanes in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 to move to the third place match-up. Finn defeated Raven Lewis of Temple College 6-1, 6-1 to capture third.
Mary Pennington represented Southwestern in flight two. After dropping her opening match against Tarleton States's Evgeniya Prokofeva 6-2, 6-2, Pennington defeated Rachel Calderon of St. Mary's 6-3, 6-1 and Reece Hall of Temple College 7-6 (2), 6-2 to finish in fifth.
Jessica Gaines had the highest finish of the day. After beating UMHB's Amber Long in a thriller 5-7, 6-4, 12-10, Gaines went on to take down Tiffany Edwards of St. Mary's 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the championship match. Gaines fell to Trinity's Melanie Ziles 6-1, 6-2 to finish in second place.
Lali Satyavada finished in third place in the fourth flight for the Pirates. She defeated UMHB/s Andrea Wharton 6-2, 6-3 before falling to Blair Jones of Tarleton 6-2, 6-3. Satyavada went on to defeat Temple College's Denise Turner 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 and claim third.
In women's flight one doubles, Southwestern's duo of Pennington/Finn finished in sixth place. The flight two doubles second round matches of Gaines/Satyavada and Fitzsimmons/Huskey were suspended due to rain.
In men's single action, Alex Lam had the best showing of the day in flight one action. Lam defeated UMHB's Daniel White 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round and then fell to Temple College's Chris Lawson 6-3, 7-5 and St. Marys' Vitas Van Dijk 6-0, 6-3 to come in fourth.
CJ Esquivel came in seventh in flight two for the Pirates while Casey Guinn and Griffin Ferry both finished in eight place in flights three and four respectively.
In doubles action, Lam/Prince captured 5th place in flight one by defeating UMHB's Pownall/Aguirre 8-6 and White/Hallum 8-3 after falling to Lawson/Williams of Temple College 8-1 in the opening round. Southwestern's Parker/Esguivel finished in seventh. Guinn/Ferry of Southwestern came in 8th place in the men's flight two doubles.