Friday, October 12, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 12, 2007) - Junior Tara Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) found success on the opening day of the USAFA Invitational defeating two opponents to advance to the final round of the Flight 1 singles bracket.

In the first match of the day, Byrne rallied from a set down to defeat No. 111 Ute Schnoy of Denver, 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 before cruising past Lauren Wilson of Air Force Academy, 6-3, 6-2. She will face No. 115 Samantha Van Der Drift of Texas Tech in tomorrow's final.

Competing in the Flight 2 singles, Whitney Trotter (Guadalajara, Mexico) defeated Julie Wainright of Colorado State-Pueblo, 6-0, 6-2 before falling to Hilary Tyler of Colorado State, 6-3, 6-4. Trotter will square off against Air Force Academy's Christine Abayan for a third place finish.

In the first round of doubles action Byrne and Trotter fell to Texas Tech's Samantha Van Der Drift and Kerryn Potgieter, 8-5. They will take on Kaja Smole and Bhavani Tirumurti of Denver on Saturday.

"It was a good day today, in doubles we struggled a little bit getting used to the change in altitude. I definitely think they will play better tomorrow. In singles we had a great day. Tara's win over a ranked opponent was the best win of her college career. Whitney also played very well today and I'm looking forward to seeing their play tomorrow," said head coach Steve Brooks.