Blackbirds Tennis Splits Final Two Matches of Spring Break Trip

3/15/07-- The Long Island University women’s tennis team defeated Manhattan, 6-1, on Wednesday afternoon and dropped a 4-3 decision to Radford on Thursday in the final two matches of its spring break trip in Orlando, Fla. Senior Merve Koksal (Ankara, Turkey) and sophomore Ashley Harvey (Randallstown, Md.) each won both of their singles matches and helped LIU win the doubles point in each of the two matches with two more wins.

Against Manhattan, the Blackbirds were victorious on five out of six singles matches and won the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Koksal whitewashed Morgan MacTaggert, 6-0, 6-0, while sophomore Amy Hosotsuji (Toronto, Ontario) played well and won the No. 6 spot, 6-1, 6-1.

Koksal and sophomore Liliana Cortes (Cochabamba, Bolivia) paired to win the doubles’ No. 1 position in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-1), while Harvey and Hosotsuji snared the No. 3 spot victory, 8-1.

In its final match of their week-long trip to Orlando, LIU looked to take a perfect 3-0 record back home to Brooklyn but were denied in a hotly-contested match. The match was tied at 3-3 after victories in singles by Harvey and Koksal and a doubles point were matched by the Highlanders’ three singles wins at No. 4, 5 and 6.

Freshman H’Ann Johnson (St. John’s, Antigua) faced Daniella Milano at the top singles spot for the match and after dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, Johnson evened the match up with a tiebreak victory of her own in the second. The third set also went to a tiebreaker with Milano ultimately coming out with the victory with a 10-4 win.

LIU returns to the south on Friday, March 23 as they face Southern Mississippi at 2:00 p.m.